The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 354

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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 354
Whirrrr.
The sound of a water wheel spreads quietly through the dawn. Night has passed, and the sun is just about to rise.
When moisture seeps into the faint air.
Shiiiiing—!!!
A flash of light cuts through the dawn.
Clack—!!
“Ugh!”
I staggered and blocked the wooden sword. It was definitely a wooden sword, yet damnably heavy. Moreover, unlike its blunt tip, it was damnably sharp.
I stagger. Unable to withstand the weight, my upper body is pushed back. In that instant.
“Power.”
Thwack—!
“Hngh!”
A strike lands on my thigh along with a brief word. Even with Wol-an activated, I couldn’t perceive the trajectory.
No, I perceived it, but couldn’t keep up with it.
The opponent’s sword was that fast and precise.
Yes, precise. Which is why it felt so strange.
‘The paths are clearly limited.’
Wol Seon-geom. The number of possibilities it reveals is far too few. At most one or two. Overwhelmingly fewer than what I see from other opponents….
‘Few as they are, it’s meaningless.’
It’s meaningless if I can’t block what’s coming. What does it matter if I can’t even see it properly in the first place.
Crack—!!
“Gack!”
My scalp throbs.
“Keep your thoughts brief.”
Thud! This time it’s my forearm.
“Use less unnecessary force.”
Whump!
Next was my knee.
Damn it, I could have dodged that.
I try to move somehow, but after taking the hit to my knee, I crumple. My strength drains away.
Thud.
One knee buckles, and I try to rise quickly again, but.
Tap.
The wooden sword is already pressed against my chin.
“…This is…”
“….”
I lost. I was defeated helplessly, unable to do anything.
It stings, but my pride isn’t wounded. My opponent was someone so exalted that I dare not even look up to them.
“I concede, Master.”
Sword Emperor.
At my words, he retrieves the wooden sword.
“Pathetic.”
Then he delivers a blunt rebuke. Hearing it, I awkwardly scratch my cheek.
“Your mind is already elsewhere. Do you truly believe there is meaning in the movements you’ve displayed?”
“…My apologies.”
“Tsk.”
The Sword Emperor clicks his tongue sharply and turns away. He seemed quite displeased. And rightfully so.
‘I can’t concentrate.’
We resume training with the Sword Emperor. I simply cannot focus.
The matter of Amjeon and other things weighed heavily on my mind.
“That’s enough. Next time must be different.”
The Sword Emperor speaks and vanishes. He had just returned and offered to oversee my training, yet here I am making a mess of it—he seemed quite angry.
‘Is he going to refuse to train me after this?’
In truth, it wouldn’t matter much. But if this was a stroke of fortune, it felt wasteful to squander it.
No matter how displeased the Sword Emperor is with me…
‘It’s a shame to just throw it away.’
At that very moment.
[Well.]
Yoo Cheon-gil, who had been watching, speaks to me with an amused tone.
“What is it?”
[That fellow dislikes you, you say?]
“Isn’t that so?”
He clicks his tongue and shows his displeasure—how could he possibly like me?
[From what I see, he seems to like you.]
“…Pardon?”
That made no sense. The Sword Emperor likes me? It absolutely doesn’t seem that way.
As I furrow my brow, Yoo Cheon-gil chuckles and continues.
[That fellow—he’s got a temperament and stubbornness that reach the heavens. He’s picky with his eyes and doesn’t trust people easily. He’s the type who lives for his own pride.]
“Like you, Old Man?”
[Yes, I’m like… what now?]
“So that’s it.”
Yoo Cheon-gil glares at me with narrowed eyes, but when I ignore his gaze, he wrinkles his nose and adds more.
[…Because he’s the type who lives for his own pride, he rarely gives anyone a chance. He figures there’s no point in trying, so he doesn’t bother teaching, and if you don’t understand the first time, he won’t explain it twice.]
“A chance?”
[Yes. He won’t even try to teach you because he thinks it’s meaningless anyway. He won’t explain twice if you don’t grasp it the first time.]
“…Ah?”
[But look at you.]
Yoo Cheon-gil looks at me and gestures with his chin toward where the Sword Emperor disappeared.
“Why him?”
[For someone with decent smarts, you’re surprisingly bad at understanding what people say, and you keep doing stupid things. Yet I keep teaching you. That arrogant bastard.]
“….”
My chest aches. This time, it truly hurt.
[I don’t know why. That fellow seems to have taken a liking to you. Why? There are plenty of talented men everywhere, so why this incompetent one….]
“It’s a bit hurtful that you genuinely can’t understand. You’re the one clinging to me right now, Old Man.”
[I have no other choice but you. If there were another way, I’d have switched long ago.]
“…This is why you shouldn’t take in demon spawn.”
[What’s wrong with you?]
“Just joking. Your ears are sharp. You should’ve used those sharp ears for something else….”
[If you’re not going to stop, why do you always act scared?]
Yoo Cheon-gil looks at me in disbelief. Watching him, I replay his words.
‘The Sword Emperor likes me?’
Why?
My heart resists the idea, but as Yoo Cheon-gil said, I’m not someone who understands instructions well. More precisely, I understand them, but my body doesn’t follow.
I’ve already exceeded what my mind can accomplish. From here on, it’s truly the realm of talent.
A world where talented people excel without instruction.
The domain of geniuses. Things like the Sword Emperor swinging his blade without thought, or his body reacting first in specific situations.
Trying to ‘understand’ such things was pointless.
So training felt burdensome.
‘Why does the Sword Emperor like me?’
That supreme Sword Emperor of all under heaven likes me. This was something I couldn’t comprehend.
“Why is that?”
So I ask the question.
[How would I know?]
Yoo Cheon-gil looked equally confused.
Right. This old man was never helpful when it mattered.
I rise to my feet indifferently.
A dull muscle soreness spreads through my body. Feeling it, I think.
‘…A man who lives off his own talent…?’
A man who lives by his own excellence.
But for someone like that.
‘He teaches well.’
His instruction was skilled, contrary to my lack of understanding. As if.
‘Like someone who’s trained disciples for a long time.’
He seemed like someone who had carefully taught others for years.
‘As far as I know.’
The Sword Emperor has no disciples.
And.
Tap, tap.
I grabbed my swollen forearm and flexed it several times. The swelling reduced, and the pain lessened.
“…Hmm.”
Yoo Cheon-gil’s eyes widen as he witnesses this.
[You…?]
I couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction.
I was surprised myself, truth be told.
“…It appears I’ve received a gift.”
It seemed I had received something from Seongheon. The problem was.
‘I’m not sure if it’s a gift or him passing on his karmic burden.’
In any case, I had received something.
Something very important indeed.

* * *
As dawn broke and morning approached.
The Hwasan Sect was busy preparing to load something.
The number of carriages was the same as when we first arrived. There weren’t many, and what we were loading wasn’t much either.
“Everything is ready.”
The disciple who had been preparing the loading tells me this. Hearing it, Cheonhye-in nods her head.
“Daeju. It looks like we can depart now.”
At those words, Sochul Daeju immediately shifts his gaze toward me.
“Master.”
“…Ah, yes. I’ll just deliver the message and return.”
Now they’re openly calling me Master. Before anything registers in their eyes, I move first and slip away from the spot.
‘This is getting awkward.’
There was a time when I tried to be considerate because he said he was embarrassed, but if he acts like this, it burdens me too.
‘…Was the Moonlight Sword Technique really that remarkable?’
I only did what Yoo Cheon-gil instructed me to do. It seems that held tremendous significance.
Or perhaps.
‘Defeating Maehua Daeju could have been the bigger factor.’
They might have seen it not just as learning the Moonlight Sword Technique, but as a victory achieved through mastering it. Either way, it’s good that it’s good, but it’s become quite inconvenient for me.
[I thought teasing was supposed to be fun.]
That only works if the person being teased doesn’t hate it.
[…You madman. Is that something a human should say?]
Yoo Cheon-gil grimaces. But humans were always such creatures.
“Wol-hyeop.”
Yeo Hyeok greets me.
“Master.”
“…Ah, I heard you’re leaving now.”
“Yes. Before that, I wish to see the Elder… No, I mean Jang Moonin.”
“He’s waiting for you.”
Yeo Hyeok guides me. We walked a short distance while exchanging words.
“I hear they’re selecting a new Daeju.”
“…Yes. It seems one of the Elders will likely come forward.”
“Then, what of Jang Moonin….”
“I hope the First Elder will take the position…but the First Elder is refusing it.”
“What? Why?”
Refusing the position of Jang Moonin? The seat that Maehua Daeju had sought to obtain even at the cost of abandoning his convictions—he was refusing it? The thought bewildered me.
Yeo Hyeok smiles bitterly at my reaction and speaks.
“He said that the karmic debts buried in this position are too heavy to bear right now.”
“….”
Only after hearing those words does the dizziness that had been clouding my mind settle.
‘…Karma, then.’
The karmic debts buried in the position.
It seems Seong-yun also feels that too much is currently buried in that seat for him to claim it.
‘That’s admirable.’
His character appears sound.
If things proceed this way.
‘He’ll be the one to claim it.’
The current acting Jang Moonin. It seemed he would obtain the position. For it was an established principle that the seat goes to those who fear and struggle with it most.
“I pray that your resolve remains steadfast.”
“…Thank you for your words.”
Mere words of comfort. They would not be of much help to Yeo Hyeok.
‘It will take Hwasan a long time to regain its footing.’
Seongheon and Maehua Daeju had died, and the sect had been greatly shaken by the internal conspirators.
It would take time to stabilize those foundations and restore them to their former state.
‘Still.’
It was fortunate that we caught it before it burned away entirely.
It might have burned completely.
As such thoughts crossed my mind.
‘…Truly.’
Had it burned completely?
Even reduced to ash, would the seeds not remain?
Watching Yeo Hyeok and Yoo Yeon, such thoughts came to me.
Perhaps even if all burned away, there would be the will to rise again.
Such thoughts, I mean.
“Welcome.”
“Forgive my intrusion.”
As I open the door, Seong-yun greets me.
“You must be busy preparing for your departure—what brings you here?”
“Still, I felt I should pay my respects.”
“My, my…I should be the one visiting you. My apologies.”
“No.”
I understood. I could see it in the stack of letters piled before him and the exhaustion etched across his face.
Today we would depart from Shaanxi and return to Henan.
This meeting was for that purpose.
“I wished to give you this.”
I withdrew a letter and handed it to him.
“This is…?”
“Information on the remaining vassals.”
“…!”
Seong-yun’s eyes widened at my words.
“Whether you believe me, whether this information is accurate—that is entirely Hwasan’s choice. I simply hope it proves useful.”
“…Heh heh.”
He wrapped my hand in his weathered palms.
“…Thank you.”
“Not at all.”
“Should Wol-hyeop ever need strength…Hwasan will always stand by your side.”
“…Those words alone are enough.”
“It is not merely words.”
Swish.
Seong-yun opened a drawer and handed me something.
“What is this…?”
“It is called the Maehua Jade.”
It was a wooden artifact. Shaped like gathered plum blossoms, with a pale pink jewel embedded at its center.
“It is an object given to those who have shown kindness to Hwasan. Whoever possesses the Maehua Jade—if they make a request, Hwasan must answer, no matter what it may be.”
“…!”
My eyes widened at those words.
“You mean Jang Moonin left something like this for me?”
When I asked if Seongheon had left something like this as well, Seong-yun smiled and shook his head.
“No.”
“Then?”
“This is something I personally wish to give to Wol-hyeop.”
“…Is that so?”
Why something so precious?
“Hwasan cannot currently offer you what you deserve. But in the future…in the not-distant future, I believe you will become someone far greater. This is my vow that Hwasan will grow strong enough to be a true pillar of support for you when that time comes.”
“….”
It was like an oath he was binding upon himself.
“Are you truly certain you should give something like this to me?”
“There is no one else I could give it to. Please, accept it.”
“….”
I deliberated briefly before grasping the Maehua Jade.
“…Thank you.”
The object I grasped was cold to the touch.
Yet somehow, my heart felt warm.
It was probably just an illusion.

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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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