The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 297

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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 297
The Killing Star (天殺星).
I had heard the term spoken of several times since my birth in the Central Plains.
Stars born to kill someone.
Those who are born with murderous intent and killing aura, unable to live their lives without taking a life and seeing blood.
Especially in this land of blades and blood, the existence known as the Killing Star shone with peculiar brilliance.
The Killing Star is typically born as a genius.
Not in terms of intellect, but as a martial artist.
Perhaps it was only natural. If these were people born to kill someone, they would need superior physical abilities to achieve that purpose.
There existed martial artists who rose to high positions, called killing ghosts or killing stars, bearing the Killing Star destiny.
And among them, the most famous existence was.
‘The Celestial Demon.’
The apex of the Demonic Cult itself, the monster of war called the heavens.
That was the Celestial Demon.
‘…The Celestial Demon is a Killing Star.’
According to records left in the Central Plains, whether true or false, I could only believe it.
Comparing Yoo Cheon-gil’s words with this in mind.
‘…Yoo Yeon is also a Killing Star?’
Saying Yoo Yeon was a Killing Star was the same as saying she was born to a fate similar to the Celestial Demon’s.
So I couldn’t easily believe it.
Looking at Yoo Cheon-gil with eyes asking for further explanation.
[Why? What’s the problem?]
Yoo Cheon-gil reacted as if questioning what the problem was. Wait, there’s no problem?
A Killing Star, you say?
[Ha.]
Yoo Cheon-gil laughed, reading my reaction.
[You think the Killing Star is something so grand? It’s not worth making such a fuss over.]
‘…It’s not?’
[That’s right.]
His tone suggested I was making a big deal out of nothing. Yoo Cheon-gil continued, speaking with utter indifference.
[Well, just someone who wants to kill people, goes mad at the drop of a hat and slashes around here and there. That’s all there is to it.]
“…”
How was that not something special…?
My head throbbed terribly.
[A martial artist should naturally possess such bizarre temperaments. Kekekekeke.]
Ah…
Only after seeing that reaction did I realize once more.
Killing Star or whatever—this man was the strangest person of all.
It seemed I had chosen the wrong person to ask.
‘Ugh, my head.’
Conversations with that old man always gave me a headache.
What was the reason Yoo Yeon was so certain to be a Heavenly Slayer in the first place?
‘Is there a distinguishing characteristic to be certain about?’
Whether a Slayer Spirit, a Slayer Star, or a Celestial Demon.
Even Yoo Yeon herself could speak of a characteristic that defined a Heavenly Slayer. With such a trait present, wasn’t it possible to judge her as a Heavenly Slayer?
The moment doubt arose,
[It’s not difficult to discern. Rather, it’s quite simple.]
Yoo Cheon-gil spoke to me.
[Harboring murderous intent within emotionlessness.]
[A Heavenly Slayer refers to those capable of such a thing.]
‘Murderous intent within emotionlessness?’
No emotion, yet harboring killing intent. It was a contradictory statement.
[A Heavenly Slayer is, as you know, someone who lives a life devoted to killing others.]
Those who must kill humans to survive.
Beings born with such a fate.
‘I know.’
I knew such people well.
That was what fate was, after all.
Even during my time as Kim Min-cheol, there were a few.
Mad creatures who believed they could only survive by killing people.
My grandmother called such people Heavenly Slayers.
And she told me,
‘Never entangle yourself with such people.’
It was a life written in the stars, impossible to escape.
If you didn’t wish to be consumed by it, don’t keep them close.
That was what my grandmother had repeatedly told me.
But then.
‘Yoo Yeon lives such a life?’
I was bewildered. That she was a Heavenly Slayer—the reason I couldn’t easily believe this was simple.
‘But I didn’t see it?’
I hadn’t noticed such a characteristic in a human born with it?
I couldn’t accept that.
‘…No matter what.’
Yes, no matter how much I had sealed myself away.
It made no sense that I couldn’t see this.
‘Murderous intent within emotionlessness is also vague.’
Murderous intent is also an emotion, yet to harbor it within emotionlessness. Did that even make sense?
[That’s precisely why they’re Heavenly Slayers. They harbor murderous intent in all their actions. They don’t even consider it an emotion.]
“…Ah.”
Now I understood.
Does he not consider murderous intent an emotion? Is he saying he finds it unremarkable, merely inevitable?
So be it.
‘Yoo Yeon has the Heavenly Slayer Constitution?’
I don’t understand. Yoo Yeon with the Heavenly Slayer Constitution?
‘That doesn’t make sense.’
I witnessed her stumbling and trembling, unable to take a life with my own eyes.
How could she possibly possess the Heavenly Slayer Constitution?
It’s absurd.
[Exactly.]
Yoo Cheon-gil nodded in agreement.
[That’s what makes it fascinating. The murderous intent you displayed when you collapsed last time was unmistakably that of the Heavenly Slayer Constitution.]
‘…What?’
Murderous intent when I collapsed?
I had no recollection of such a thing.
Yoo Cheon-gil continued speaking with an intrigued expression, his gaze fixed on where Yoo Yeon had been.
[What in the world did that bastard Malko do to seal such a fate? That’s what astounds me.]
“….”
Malko.
The Maehwa Ilgeom had blocked Yoo Yeon’s destiny.
My brow furrowed at those words.
At least there was one consolation.
‘I have someone to ask about this.’
There was a person I could question regarding this matter.

* * *
I returned to my quarters. After finishing my training and coming back, it was nearly dawn.
After a quick wash, I entered my room.
[You’ve arrived.]
I faced Seongheon, the Saengryeong who had been waiting for me.
“How long have you been here?”
[Tsk tsk tsk… When you get old, sleep comes early, you see.]
So he had come shortly after I left for training.
“Then why didn’t you just come find me?”
Seongheon cannot leave the estate. It was a characteristic inherent to his nature as a bound spirit.
The mountain I had ascended to train was within the radius he could move.
He could have simply come to find me, yet he waited instead.
[I didn’t want to bother you while you were training.]
He spoke as though it were a consideration on his part.
[Nonsense. You were just too lazy to come, that’s obvious.]
Yoo Cheon-gil immediately scoffed at Seongheon’s words.
[Cheon-gil. You don’t understand the consideration of the elderly.]
[Who hasn’t grown old? You speak such drivel with such antiquated grace.]
[You’re right, you never matured even in your old age.]
[…You bastard?]
“Why are you two suddenly fighting? I’m exhausted.”
I stopped the old men from bickering. I couldn’t understand why they were being so troublesome.
But there was no way my intervention would stop them. In the end, Yoo Cheon-gil clicked his tongue and spoke to Seongheon.
[Is that the maturity that led you to take Cheonsal-seong as your disciple?]
[…]
‘Oh, damn it.’
He actually threw that out there without hesitation. I was both shocked and oddly relieved.
Because he asked the question I had wanted to ask.
[Speak if you have a mouth. You who clung so fiercely to the righteous faction’s will, you who pushed so hard for that covenant—you broke it with your own hands.]
‘A covenant?’
I listened carefully to Yoo Cheon-gil’s words. A covenant?
[Wasn’t it decided? That the moment Cheonsal-seong is discovered, they are to be eliminated immediately.]
“…!”
[Even when Doshin and I opposed it, you pushed it through as a choice for peace. Yet now you’ve taken a new disciple who bears the aura of Cheonsal-seong.]
[Cheon-gil…]
[Don’t say you didn’t know. My eyes aren’t knotholes, and that murderous aura is unmistakably that of Cheonsal-seong. If you’ve been unaware until now, it means you’ve done something, haven’t you? Isn’t that right, Seongheon.]
At Yoo Cheon-gil’s torrent of words, Seongheon fell silent. There was no way to refute what he said.
In that moment.
‘To eliminate Cheonsal-seong.’
I learned that such a covenant had been made. Was this a covenant of the righteous faction itself, or…
‘Did they decide this among themselves?’
From his tone, it seemed to be a matter concerning the sect itself. Even though Yoo Cheon-gil and Doshin had refused, Seongheon wanted to proceed with it.
Despite the agreement they had made.
‘Seongheon took Yoo Yeon as his disciple.’
He accepted Yoo Yeon, who appeared to be a Celestial Killer, as his disciple rather than killing her.
It was nothing short of bizarre.
[Malko. Have you truly fallen? And here I thought you were so noble about it all.]
[…A fall, you say.]
At the word “fall,” Seongheon smiled bitterly.
[If the place one stood was not heaven, then this is not a fall but rather the consequence of ignorance, would you not say.]
[There you go again with your noble nonsense. If you’re going to make excuses, do it properly. Why did you do it?]
[It was spring.]
[What?]
[In a frozen winter, that child was spring to me. How could I cast her away? It too was fate, surely.]
[Ah. You madman.]
Yoo Cheon-gil’s tone changed. Irritation filled every word.
Craaash—!!
In that instant, objects inside the house trembled. Ah, please no.
“Old Man…. Please restrain yourself. People are watching.”
[As if a Celestial Killer’s oppression would be something to be oppressed by. Whatever that child means to you, you made the wrong choice. Surely you don’t believe that putting a leash on a beast that will one day devour humans will change its nature.]
Yoo Cheon-gil did not stop despite my words.
[Moreover, it seems she’s already tasted blood.]
[….]
[Did you suppress it with a vessel? Or did you place a seal? Whichever it is, you’ve lost your conviction. The Hwasan plum blossom you so pursued has fallen to the ground, bound by strings of fate.]
It was brutal. I wondered if this was what it meant to strike with the truth.
[Do you think you can control a Celestial Killer? What arrogance, Seongheon.]
[….]
At the word “arrogance,” Seongheon’s body flinched.
The clattering furniture finally caught its breath.
[Arrogance, you say. A fitting word indeed.]
Seongheon laughed.
[I never once thought of controlling her. I simply wanted to show that child a world slightly more peaceful than what awaited her.]
[Covering one’s eyes does not turn that place into a flower garden. Her life is one where a single step leads to the cliff’s edge.]
That was how Yoo Cheon-gil described the life of a Celestial Killer.
[Perhaps you are right….]
Seongheon erased the smile he had been wearing.
[But it might not be, might it?]
Perhaps controlling a Celestial Killer was possible. That was what he meant.
[Ha.]
Hearing his words, Yoo Cheon-gil let out an exasperated breath.
[You’ve changed. You, of all people. Changed quite a bit.]
[I won’t deny it.]
[Tsk.]
Yoo Cheon-gil clicked his tongue and left the room.
His demeanor made it clear he had no desire to continue the conversation.
“….”
And so Seongheon and I were left alone. The atmosphere was decidedly uncomfortable.
[Forgive me.]
Seongheon offered me an apology.
[I’ve shown you an unsightly side of myself.]
“Not at all.”
It didn’t matter. I’d already heard what I needed to hear anyway.
‘Yoo Yeon is indeed a Heavenly Killing Star.’
Knowing this, Seongheon had accepted her nonetheless.
Moreover.
‘The reason she cannot kill people is….’
Seongheon had done something to suppress the Heavenly Killing Star’s instincts within her.
The mystery had been solved.
The problem was.
“May I ask you one thing?”
[Ask away.]
A new curiosity had taken root in me.
“How did that child come to be a disciple of Hwasan? Did she seek out the Hwasan Sect herself?”
It was something I’d wondered about for some time.
I simply hadn’t been able to ask Yoo Yeon directly.
One year in childhood. After living together that long and parting ways, how had Yoo Yeon found her path to Hwasan?
‘At least back then, I didn’t know she was a Heavenly Killing Star.’
Whether her nature hadn’t awakened yet or for some other reason, I remained ignorant.
That Yoo Yeon would leave Bangga and become a disciple of Hwasan—and moreover, a disciple of Jang Moonin himself—was something I could not comprehend.
Seongheon answered my question.
[The child did not seek out Hwasan.]
“Then?”
[I found the child.]
“…What?”
Seongheon found Yoo Yeon? What did that mean?
[Child.]
“Yes, Jang Moonin.”
[Do you know of war?]
“…If you speak of the Demonic Cult War, I know of it to some extent.”
The unprecedented blood calamity brought forth by the Demonic Cult.
I knew it to that extent.
[It was a fierce war. Something that should never have happened.]
“….”
Why suddenly speak of war? I listened attentively for now.
[The war ended in victory for the Orthodox Sect.]
That was the fact history had taught us.
[And after the war ended, we had certain things we needed to do.]
“Things we needed to do…?”
[Yoo Cheon-gil served as the Orthodox Sect’s stabilizer and pillar, and Jin was no different. The others likewise each took on their respective duties and moved forward. That was what cleaning up after war meant.]
“…I see.”
Was he referring to the Celestial Demons when he said each of them?
Since it wasn’t a detailed explanation, I had to redirect my thoughts.
However.
[And what I sought to do at that time was… the elimination of roots that should never resurface.]
At Seongheon’s words, I furrowed my brow slightly.
“…Roots, you say?”
Roots? What was that. I wondered if he meant the remnants of the Demonic Cult.
[The seed of the Celestial Demon.]
“…Pardon?”
[It was the work of eliminating the Celestial Demon’s bloodline.]
“…The Celestial Demon’s bloodline?”
[Yes.]
Did the Celestial Demon have children?
Ah, could it be.
‘Was it that man?’
Baekcheon-il, who had called himself a member of the Demonic Cult.
Just as I was thinking it might be him.
[It took years to finally find him. I should have simply completed the task as assigned….]
Seongheon smiled bitterly and spoke to me.
[…But I did not.]
“Why not?”
[Who knows. Perhaps it was the whim of an incompetent old man. The whim of an old man who wished to see spring.]
Again, that spring of his.
What spring was he so desperate to find….
‘Hm?’
The word spring and the phrase seed of the Celestial Demon.
A chilling thought flashed through my mind.
‘Surely not….’
It couldn’t be. Even if he hadn’t killed him, surely it wasn’t that.
Turning my thoughts to deny it, I asked Seongheon.
“…Jang Moonin.”
[That’s right.]
“The Celestial Demon’s bloodline that you couldn’t kill. Could it possibly be… Yoo Yeon?”
[….]
Seongheon didn’t answer my question.
Damn it all.
That silence made my stomach churn in an instant.
This was a truth I should never have known.

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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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