The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 356

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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 356
“What did you just say?”
Cheon Rijin-an asks with his face contorted. I flinched at the sight. His expression was quite terrifying.
[Oh my.]
Yoo Cheon-gil flinches upon seeing Cheon Rijin-an.
[Kid, be careful. This guy’s angry.]
I didn’t need to be told that.
Who wouldn’t notice?
“Are you trying to make a joke? That wouldn’t be a good choice in this situation, would it?”
His expression showed no intention of letting a joke slide. Whatever answer I gave, he wouldn’t accept it.
The bowstring was already drawn, and the arrow had been released. There was no turning back now.
So I had to move forward.
“It’s not a joke.”
“It’s not a joke, you say…? Then you mean it seriously. That makes it even worse.”
I would treat Shin Chang in place of Physician Uiseon. At those words, Cheon Rijin-an’s expression shifted into a cold smile—clearly an extension of his anger.
‘Wow.’
He’s genuinely terrifying. I wondered where such an aura came from, considering he wasn’t even a Martial Artist.
“If you were protesting in this manner because you were dissatisfied with the task I entrusted to you, I could at least understand. But if you’re serious and not joking? Then I’d say you’re mocking me, wouldn’t I?”
The fact that I had no medical knowledge whatsoever made my offer to treat Shin Chang all the more absurd.
Such a reaction was natural. In fact, he’d probably be even angrier.
But.
“I spoke with complete sincerity. If Physician Uiseon has no solution, then I am the only option remaining.”
“…What are you talking about?”
Cheon Rijin-an asks. His tone was chilling. It felt like one wrong word would get me sliced in half.
“Physician Uiseon has passed away. You must have already heard.”
“…”
He doesn’t answer. There was no way he wouldn’t know. The messenger had been sent long ago, and even if not.
‘Surely there were people in Shaanxi.’
The Martial Arts Alliance would have definitely stationed someone there.
Cheon Rijin-an would have already received the news.
Physician Uiseon.
More precisely, the Sect Leader of Hwasan had died.
“…I heard.”
Cheon Rijin-an, who had been silent, finally answers.
Seeing this, it seemed he wasn’t refusing to answer but rather contemplating.
Or perhaps he was waiting for something. I couldn’t fathom his intentions.
What mattered was.
“What does that have to do with what you just said?”
Both Cheon Rijin-an and I.
Understood that this wasn’t a conversation to be had while drowning in such emotions.
“Physician Uiseon has passed away. Therefore, if there is no method, I shall accept it. Say no more.”
A chilling gaze sweeps across me.
“Your words sound as though you could take his place.”
Cold sweat beads on my skin. This old man. Does he truly not know martial arts?
“That is correct.”
“Ha.”
Cheon Rijin-an exhales sharply.
“You speak nonsense. How dare you—”
“Physician Uiseon left me with his final words.”
“…What?”
“Due to his convictions and his deteriorating condition, he could not make the journey to Hanam. He wished for me to assume that role in his stead. The medicinal pills I brought from Hwasan Sect stem from this very reason.”
“No matter how unrealistic Uiseon’s thinking was, do you truly believe your words make sense now?”
To assume Physician Uiseon’s role.
This means I must possess the medical skills of the greatest physician in the Central Plains.
“I have never heard of you studying medicine. Surely you will claim Yoo Cheon-gil made you do it?”
It seemed Cheon Rijin-an had already investigated everything and understood Yoo Cheon-gil’s scheme as well.
“My goodwill toward you has its limits. This is not a jest, is it?”
“But it is the truth. I have received instruction in medicine from Physician Uiseon.”
“…You dare—!”
Just as Cheon Rijin-an was about to rebuke me.
“Which is why I can now examine the Scholar’s—no, Grandfather’s condition.”
“…!”
His body went rigid.
“You.”
“I shall say no more on this matter. Grandfather would not wish it, so I merely hope my words carry weight now.”
“…You wretch.”
Cheon Rijin-an glares at me with blazing eyes.
“Foolish talk. Even if I concede that Uiseon passed his medical knowledge to you, what could you possibly have learned in such a short time?”
Even if Physician Uiseon left me his medical knowledge, nothing would change.
I needed proof of this.
To accomplish that.
“Hani, allow me to see the League Leader. Whether it is possible or not, I shall verify it myself.”
“…”
I need to see Shin Chang.
Upon hearing this, Cheon Rijin-an’s brow furrowed. A brief silence followed.
“Know this one thing.”
He spoke to me in a cold voice.
“You must bear full responsibility for what you have just said.”
“…”
It was a terrifying statement indeed.
“Yes.”
I had no intention of backing down either.
Physician Uiseon had me learn medicine so I could take his place.
Seventy percent of that statement is a lie.
It wasn’t so I could take his place.
Nor did he have me learn his medical techniques.
This was.
‘I’m not sure why myself.’
Something Seongheon acquired as he achieved enlightenment.
His medical knowledge.
I currently possessed it.

* * *
When I grant a ghost’s request and help them achieve enlightenment, my spiritual energy increases.
This could be seen from when I first helped the Demon achieve enlightenment and when I helped Dokjon achieve it.
If it weren’t for this, my spiritual energy seemed to increase even when I forcibly exorcised the Demon by eliminating her, so I had judged it to be limited solely to spiritual energy.
But.
‘That wasn’t it.’
With Seongheon’s enlightenment this time, things changed slightly.
The problem was what he left behind for me as he achieved enlightenment.
‘…How did this happen.’
Things I would never have known otherwise. I had no interest in them and had no need to obtain them.
Knowledge called medicine—the understanding of healing and treating others.
It existed within me.
As I helped Seongheon achieve enlightenment, information flooded in like a tidal wave.
I’m not sure if this is all the knowledge he accumulated.
But.
‘…I should at least try it.’
Since I had obtained something, I needed to put it to use.
And it was none other than Physician Uiseon’s knowledge.
‘I’ve already verified whether it’s real or not.’
The knowledge was certain. I would have preferred if he’d given me spiritual energy or something else instead.
But this too held considerable value.
Especially in a world like the Central Plains where medicine hadn’t developed.
“Welcome.”
A Martial Artist greeted us. I accepted the greeting and moved forward with Cheon Rijin-an.
The interior was filled with patients of all kinds.
[There are many eyes watching.]
I nodded slightly at Yoo Cheon-gil’s warning.
It meant there were countless unseen eyes fixed upon me.
Of course.
‘It was the place where Shin Chang was being protected.’
Shin Chang.
The current League Leader of the Martial Arts Alliance who had been attacked. This was the space where he lay.
The information was being kept under the strictest secrecy, and only elite forces had been deployed, or so I was told.
I entered a chamber within the Alliance. Cheon Rijin-an reached the front and opened the door.
Creeeeak.
The moment the door opened.
‘Ugh?’
I had to cover my nose against the sudden stench that wafted out.
Normally I would have simply perceived it as a foul odor.
“…The scent of departing essence.”
At my murmur, Cheon Rijin-an glanced at me sideways. His eyes seemed to widen slightly.
The scent of departing essence was the fragrance one sensed when vital energy leaked away like wind.
The energy that should have been wrapped around a martial artist’s body. When it could no longer be contained and seeped outward.
In that process.
‘The smell that came from skin unable to withstand the loss of energy as it underwent necrosis.’
Literally the stench of rotting flesh.
The martial artist’s energy overlaying it produced an even more grotesque odor.
‘…If the scent of departing essence is this strong.’
It meant his condition was truly dire.
Grasping this, I looked into the chamber. In that moment.
“Hah.”
I couldn’t help but exhale sharply.
An old man lying in the center of the chamber as if dead.
Shin Chang’s condition was laid bare before me.
A giant lay collapsed. Shin Chang. He lay with his eyes closed.
‘The abdomen area….’
The left side of his exposed upper body, extending down to his ribs. That section was pitch black.
Anyone looking at it would think it had been burned away.
‘…There it is.’
Energy was leaking from that spot. But that wasn’t all.
‘This is….’
The transparent energy flowing from his body.
Probably only I could perceive such energy.
‘His vital essence is draining away.’
His innate life force. It was gradually flowing out.
‘It means death is approaching.’
It meant Shin Chang’s condition was extremely grave. I could tell immediately upon seeing it. This was.
‘He should have already died?’
A body in such a state that death would have been a mercy. It’s almost miraculous that he still draws breath.
‘Tsk.’
I narrowed my eyes observing him. His body was so ravaged, yet the vital energy flowing through him was barely perceptible?
‘…How extraordinary his constitution must be.’
It meant he was forcibly holding himself together from within. Even in a state of unconsciousness.
Considering that as I observed him.
“I must ask.”
Cheon Rijin-an’s voice pierced through from beside me.
“Can you take responsibility for what you said, seeing that?”
“….”
A body devastated beyond recognition. After the battle with Patcheon Gung, he’d been destroyed to this extent—could I truly save him?
“If you cannot succeed, do not even attempt it. It would be faster to seek another method instead.”
Cheon Rijin-an still did not trust me. It was only natural—I wouldn’t have trusted myself either.
Moreover.
‘Do I really need to do this?’
Seeing his condition, I felt regret. How could I even touch that? I seemed to have volunteered without thinking, and now I merely hesitated.
“…I cannot speak to responsibility, but.”
Still, my words remained the same.
“Should we not at least attempt it?”
Something had to be done.
Such a feeling swept through me.
‘How ridiculous.’
I grimaced. Since when had I been driven to do this?
‘What did you entrust to me?’
Was what Seongheon left me truly only the art of medicine?
Could this present determination to revive that corpse have no connection to it whatsoever?
‘Who knows.’
I couldn’t say. But seeing how I volunteered to do this the moment I obtained the medical arts, it seemed the influence was not entirely absent.
‘Is it.’
Perhaps it was this subtle sense of apology toward Shin Chang, who had been ruined trying to save me.
Or perhaps Seongheon truly did something to me.
If Seongheon did something, that too would be absurd.
He refused to save Shin Chang himself, yet entrusted it to me.
“That you truly.”
Cheon Rijin-an began to speak further, seeing me not yield.
Whoosh.
My body moved toward Shin Chang.
Drawing close, I extended my hand directly. At that moment.
Srrrrk-!!!
Something touched my neck.
Martial artists who had been invisible from all directions suddenly appeared and leveled their blades at me.
They seemed to be the Bodyguards of the Leader.
A sword pressed against my neck.
“Do not move, Wol-hyeop.”
A chilling warning.
Even as I heard it.
Slash.
My hand moved.
“I didn’t hear you say to stop-!”
Cheon Rijin-an, who had been about to rage at me.
“…Huh?”
Suddenly fell silent.

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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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