The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 27

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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 027
Several days had passed since I departed from the Anhui Branch in a carriage provided by the Sect.
“…Ugh, my back….”
After sitting with my back against the carriage wall for quite some time, the moment it stopped, I climbed out and let out a groan.
A valley came into view. This must be tonight’s campsite where we’d rest.
I walked to a sparsely populated gravel field and gazed at the carriage. It was still ostentatiously large and grand.
At first, I was amazed at how cushioned a carriage could be, but after several days, I realized it wasn’t all that comfortable.
[Why don’t you just run there for exercise while you’re at it?]
“You certainly speak nonsense without hesitation.”
This old man had been spouting ridiculous suggestions since we departed—that I shouldn’t ride in a carriage but run instead.
“How am I supposed to run that distance?”
Even by carriage, it would take several days, and he wanted me to run it? Madness.
As I spoke with an exasperated expression, Yoo Cheon-gil answered.
[With effort, one day is enough. Anything that doesn’t work is simply due to insufficient effort.]
Since he spouted the same nonsense, I responded immediately.
“Then why don’t you try solving your own problems with effort? I don’t understand why you keep bothering me about it.”
[What? How is that the same!?]
“What’s the difference? You’re telling me to solve the impossible through effort alone—that makes even less sense!”
[Now you’re even dropping your formal speech?]
“So what!”
It’s embarrassing, but this has been the pattern for the past several days. We’d bicker at every opportunity.
In truth, we were both just fooling around under the guise of argument to relieve our boredom.
As we continued bickering like this.
“I mean, so….”
I stopped mid-sentence. Yoo Cheon-gil had gestured with his chin toward something.
The meaning was unmistakable.
“Bang Disciple.”
“Yes?”
Cheon Euijin appeared from behind. He was looking at me with a peculiar expression.
“What are you doing here?”
“…Ah, I was just doing some meditation for a moment.”
“I see. Meditation?”
“Yes. A time to understand one’s spirit, you might say.”
It wasn’t a lie. It was indeed a time spent understanding a temperamental demon.
At my words, Cheon Euijin’s eyes widened slightly.
“Ah… understanding one’s spirit… Indeed, Bang Disciple, you have deep knowledge in that area as well.”
“…Yes?”
“The elders of Taoism have said that martial prowess and the spirit are closely related. Are you also studying that aspect, Bang Disciple?”
“Ah…. Yes. Something like… that.”
“As expected…!”
“….”
Cheon Euijin’s eyes sparkled with some strange misunderstanding. It was truly burdensome beyond measure.
‘Why has he been like that since before?’
Cold sweat broke out. It had been that way since the moment I left the Branch.
Whatever I did, he would attach some bizarre meaning to it, or he seemed intent on observing me for reasons I couldn’t fathom.
Thanks to that, even training felt awkward.
I was reluctant to display my pathetic swordsmanship.
When he looked at me with such expectant eyes, there was nothing I could do.
‘What is this really.’
I truly couldn’t understand why he looked at me that way. The problem was that I didn’t even want to ask.
“Ah, well anyway… how much longer until we arrive?”
I deliberately changed the subject.
For now, that was all I could do.
“Ah, we’re almost there… we should arrive by tomorrow at the latest.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes, originally we should have arrived around today… but unfortunately.”
“Ah.”
I understood what he meant. We were behind schedule. The reasons were the terrain and the rain.
It had rained on the way and the terrain had been somewhat poor, so it was understandable.
“I apologize….”
Yet Cheon Euijin seemed bothered by it and apologized to me.
I was honestly taken aback.
“Why would the Heavenly Supreme apologize? There’s nothing you did wrong.”
It wasn’t the carriage’s fault, nor was it the driver’s fault. And certainly not Cheon Euijin’s fault.
He didn’t even drive the carriage, so what fault could there be?
“…even so, since I’m in the position of accompanying the Bang Disciple….”
“What do you mean accompanying? We’re going because we have to go.”
I answered while suppressing a sigh. I’d learned this over the past few days.
‘This guy seems to read the atmosphere too much.’
Cheon Euijin was better at reading people’s moods than I expected. Excessively so.
I wasn’t sure if he was like this because of me, or if he was always this way.
In any case, this guy was somewhat….
‘Pathetic for his appearance.’
My first impression was that he seemed sharp and cold, but meeting him, he was quite different.
“Anyway, it’s fine. Nothing happens just because we’re late, does it?”
I was actually pleased. I had much to think about before we arrived.
‘Still not enough.’
I needed to prepare for any possible situation.
I didn’t know what might happen at Cheonwol Gate, so I needed to think even harder, and on top of that.
‘…I should have trained more, damn it.’
This futile nightly practice.
I had to complete it before arriving at the Cheonwol Gate.

* * *
On a night when the moon hung high, it was the time when we would have a campfire burning and be settling in for the evening.
If I were still at the Branch, I would have been standing night watch at this hour.
I stood with my sword in hand, eyes closed.
This was an action I had repeated over the past several days.
[Do you feel it?]
I did not respond to the Old Man’s words. There was no need to answer, no need to pay attention.
The Old Man surely understood that as well.
[Focus your breathing. Your shoulders are unstable.]
Even without answering, he must have clearly understood my intent.
[Do not concern yourself with other places. Focus only on the flow.]
The flow. The movement of vital energy felt throughout my body.
I concentrate on my breathing so my shoulders do not rise, observing my inner state.
Something flows.
So subtle that I cannot properly sense it, yet I feel it ever so faintly.
An energy so delicate that it would dissipate entirely if I wavered even slightly or lost concentration.
I slowly circulate it throughout my entire body so it does not break.
While maintaining this thought,
[Correct your thinking.]
The Old Man speaks as if he had been waiting.
[You are not maintaining energy—you are maintaining light. Remember the moon contained within your body.]
I wanted to curse the moment I heard those words. It was the most abstract nonsense imaginable.
‘Damn it. How am I supposed to maintain that?’
Energy is energy, but where is this light? My eyes are closed—I cannot even see it.
Still, I gritted my teeth and tried. Even if I did not understand what he was saying, I could attempt it.
Because I had experienced directly with my body what the Old Man meant.
Not abstract concepts like light or the moon.
I simply followed what I felt with my body.
‘The speed at which the energy moves. The response I felt in my body at that moment. The sensation of my muscles and the volume of my breath.’
I remember everything and replicate it.
This was the assignment the Old Man had given me on the first day of our journey.
‘I will show you once. Try to learn it.’
A span of less than ten seconds. That was the time the Old Man had been inside my body.
What the Old Man did in that instant was nothing special.
He simply continued to move the vital energy throughout my body, repeated it, then withdrew and spoke to me.
‘Did you remember?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then from now on, keep practicing.’
That was when it truly began.
‘…How long should I continue, sir?’
‘Tsk tsk. Obviously, until you can do it exactly the same way.’
Several days passed like that.
I repeated the motions endlessly until we arrived in Hannam, reducing my sleep each night, but it proved far more difficult than anticipated.
‘Remembering something doesn’t mean I can execute it perfectly.’
Even when I memorized and replicated every step, my body simply wouldn’t cooperate.
When I calmed my breathing, my energy would falter; when I focused on my energy, my breathing would scatter.
And whenever I tried concentrating on both simultaneously, my body would collapse.
‘This will take considerable time.’
Replicating the Old Man’s form exactly would require far more practice than I had available.
‘Hmm….’
That’s what troubled me most.
‘We arrive at Cheonwol Gate by tomorrow, but how am I supposed to manage this.’
The Old Man had said I must master this technique before reaching Cheonwol Gate.
But the time was far too tight.
‘…Sigh.’
I’d said it would be difficult, yet the Old Man insisted it had to be done according to the plan.
Moreover.
‘I showed you everything, and you can’t do this? Tsk tsk. You must be truly talentless.’
He needled me relentlessly.
‘I know, you infuriating demon.’
I’d known I was talentless for a long time. If I had any talent, I wouldn’t have spent a whole year stumbling around the Branch like a fool.
‘Ugh…. Damn it.’
I cursed inwardly and redirected my energy once more.
The Cheonwol Heart Technique, was it? It was far more grueling than the martial arts I’d trained in my entire life with the Yeolyeongbangga Clan.
I’d only just managed to maintain the energy flow.
I couldn’t even estimate how long it would take to refine it as naturally as the Old Man did.
The one thing I could say with certainty.
‘A few days won’t cut it.’
The pace the Old Man demanded seemed impossible to achieve.
“This isn’t going to work, sir.”
I spoke honestly.
[Hmm?]
The Old Man tilted his head and furrowed his brow.
[So, you’re thinking of giving up?]
“No. It’s not that I’m giving up.”
I simply couldn’t grasp the technique. I needed to understand it from the beginning again.
“Please show me once more.”
[Heheheh.]
The Old Man laughed at my words.
[It’s only been a few days. Even if you go in again, the time spent won’t differ much from last time, would it?]
“That alone is sufficient.”
What mattered was verifying it once more.
For now, a clearer sense of direction was what I needed.
[Hmm….]
At my words, the Old Man seemed to ponder for a moment, rolling his eyes.
[Hm?]
Then he lifted his head and gazed at something.
“What’s the matter?”
[No, it’s nothing. I thought I saw a fox, that’s all.]
“A fox?”
What’s this sudden talk about a fox? I followed his gaze, but saw nothing.
Only the dense forest beyond the gravel field was visible.
Then.
[Very well.]
The Old Man spoke to me.
[It will likely be the same as last time, but I shall graciously show you once more.]
“Graciously? What nonsense. You’re just having me do this for your own amusement-”
[If you don’t like it, then don’t.]
“…but I shall do my utmost to learn.”
One way or another, I’ll exorcise this thing later. This isn’t salvation—it’s exorcism.
I forced a smile while making that firm resolve.
[Tsk tsk.]
The Old Man laughed along, and slowly seeped into my body.
No matter how many times I felt it, the sensation remained strange.
I still disliked the feeling that my body wasn’t truly mine.
What was fortunate, however, was this:
‘I no longer lose consciousness.’
I could maintain my awareness, and though I’d never attempted it before,
‘I think I could reclaim it if I wanted to.’
An inexplicable certainty arose that I could regain control of my body if I desired it.
Crunch.
My hand clenched into a fist. Simultaneously, my eyes closed.
Whoooosh—! Energy stirred within my abdomen.
I focused on it. First, it was the speed.
‘Three times faster than mine.’
The energy moved several times faster, and unlike me who merely maintained a trembling flow, it formed a clean, steady stream.
‘There’s almost no wasted power.’
My feet merely supported my body. It was my breathing that sustained my energy.
My muscles opened a path so movement could flow without resistance.
‘How is this even possible?’
When I tried to maintain my energy, tension flooded my muscles. And relying solely on breathing felt weak and unstable.
What was the difference? I couldn’t fathom it.
As always, I simply observed and remembered.
‘The breathing is slightly faster and deeper than my memory of it. Ah, I see—I need to breathe more deeply so my shoulders don’t rise.’
I became aware of each subtle difference one by one.
‘What does this intricately formed pathway of energy mean?’
The channel of energy crafted with such precision.
It was forming something within my body.
Different from the crude, tangled pathways I had created. Its shape was almost like—
‘A circle… no, that’s…’
A moon?
Whoosh—!
The moment I grasped the form, my eyes snapped open. But it wasn’t me who opened them.
Yoo Cheon-gil’s eyes had opened. And he was staring at something.
‘Old Man?’
I tried calling out, wondering what he was doing when he’d been demonstrating so well just moments before.
But Yoo Cheon-gil’s words came faster.
“If you have something to say, come out.”
‘Huh?’
It was an abrupt command. What was he talking about…?
‘…Wait?’
An eerie realization crept over me.
‘So that’s why this old man agreed to my request so readily… Could it be…?’
My body pivoted sharply, the wooden sword in my grip pointing in the direction Yoo Cheon-gil was staring.
“I hate being watched in secret. You’d better come out quickly before I kill you.”
‘Damn—!’
“Or would you prefer I come to you?”
The corners of my mouth lifted.
“If you want that, I’ll oblige.”
With those words, my feet moved. The instant I took a step forward.
Whoosh—!
“Insane…!”
I regained control of my body. I clamped my mouth shut on the curse that had escaped unbidden.
I rolled my eyes to glance sideways. Yoo Cheon-gil was looking at me with that characteristic terrifying smile of his.
[Get your head on straight.]
I couldn’t even spit out the profanity rising in my throat. I could already sense a presence approaching from ahead.
[The foxes are coming.]
I steadied my breathing and concealed the cold sweat trickling down my skin.
Then I looked ahead.
And there they were.
Countless figures approaching me.
White martial robes with blue embroidery.
Each of them wore a sword at their waist, and with their arrival, the very flow of air shifted.
Their numbers fell just short of ten, by my count.
The formidable aura they radiated made my body instinctively shrink back.
These warriors felt entirely different from those I had seen at the Branch.
The middle-aged man leading them spoke to me.
“You are the Bang Disciple of the Yeolyeongbangga Clan, are you not?”
“…Yes… if you say so…?”
Yes, that’s right. It’s me. Please spare my life.
I barely restrained myself from blurting out those words.
I couldn’t afford to do so—not after the mess that old man had created.
The middle-aged man studied me silently after hearing my response, his gaze fixed intently upon my eyes.
Thud—!
In an instant, all those figures dropped to their knees in unison.
“The Cheonwol Gate’s Lesser Moon pays respects to the successor of the Sword Saint.”
On this unexpected night.
The Cheonwol Gate had come seeking me.

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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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