The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 358

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 358
We returned to Hanan, and by now the sun had finally set.
I stepped out from where Shin Chang was resting and took a brief walk through the interior of the Alliance.
As I was walking for a moment like that.
“Are you finished?”
A delicate voice reached my ears. When I glanced to the side, someone had appeared.
“….”
A face I still hadn’t grown accustomed to.
“…Yeah. More or less.”
“You must have worked so hard.”
That refined smile was not easy to bear.
No matter how many times I looked, I couldn’t help but wonder how that face could belong to a man.
Gwima.
He appeared before me in women’s clothing and spoke to me.
Again, I hadn’t sensed his arrival.
“My, you’re perspiring.”
He retrieved cloth from his bosom and attempted to wipe my forehead. I simply accepted the cloth he offered.
After taking it and wiping away the sweat, Gwima wore an expression of regret.
Why was he making such a regretful expression?
I deliberately ignored it and asked.
“Where are the others…?”
“They’ve all been guided to their quarters.”
“…Ah, I see.”
They must have already unpacked. But why are you still here instead of going? I asked with that look in my eyes.
“I must attend to Young Master. I am your servant, after all.”
“….”
He uttered those repulsive words in a cloying voice.
Gwima was always peculiar to observe, but now he was even more so.
‘Regardless, this is the Martial Arts Alliance.’
Could a member of the Demonic Cult really walk about so freely? Even if his disguise technique was extraordinarily superb, I wondered if such a thing was possible.
Or perhaps.
‘It’s because I’m here.’
It might be possible precisely because he was someone I brought.
“…Sigh.”
I exhaled a long breath.
“Are you very tired?”
“…A little.”
To be honest, I was quite exhausted.
‘This isn’t easy.’
It was the first time I had employed this technique. No, calling it a technique was a misnomer—it wasn’t merely a technique at all.
‘Can that even be called medicine?’
Extracting and removing qi. I’d never seen Gi Poonghyang handled in such a manner.
Seongheon’s knowledge was the same.
Rather than directly intervening in the qi, it should have been treating the rotted flesh first, then treating the qi.
‘The order was different.’
The method I employed was the exact opposite of that sequence.
Removing the qi first, then allowing the flesh to be touched.
This should naturally be the easier task.
‘But accomplishing it is what’s unreasonable.’
Directly intervening in another’s qi to remove only the filth? Impossible. It defied common sense.
One careless mistake could entangle me in the other’s qi, causing our energies to become hopelessly intertwined.
If that happened, both of us could have our meridians twisted and die.
‘Yet I accomplished it so effortlessly.’
I did it.
The reason is simple.
‘Because I could see it.’
How that qi flowed.
Then where that flowing qi should go.
How it should move.
I could see everything.
‘This is….’
Not Seongheon’s knowledge.
‘It’s what Wol Seon-geom taught me.’
The awakened version of Wol-an.
The artificial Tou-an that Yoo Cheon-gil created.
That revealed the path of qi to me.
The problem is.
‘Even Yoo Cheon-gil didn’t anticipate this.’
Revealing the path of qi?
Even Yoo Cheon-gil reacted as though seeing it for the first time.
This meant that this wasn’t an original power Wol-an possessed.
‘How did this happen?’
Where did the change come from?
If it was something unforeseen.
‘The cause might lie in what Seongheon left behind.’
What he gave me before departing.
That could have brought about a change in Wol-an.
Didn’t Yoo Cheon-gil say it himself?
‘That he left behind something useless.’
Thanks to these eyes, a possibility emerged to heal Shin Chang.
Had it been otherwise.
‘It would have been impossible.’
Absolutely impossible.
It wasn’t merely a matter of dispelling energy, nor was physical treatment the issue.
The malevolent artifact concealed within Shin Chang was the true problem.
‘That was….’
Something only men like me could touch.
That’s precisely why it’s a problem.
‘If only men like me can touch it, then in other words.’
Men like ‘me’ must have planted it there.
‘The figure who fought Shin Chang.’
Was none other than the one called Pacheon Gungju.
‘Moreover, since Patcheon Gung is connected to the Heretics.’
The Heretics who wreaked havoc in my past life. Considering there were several men like me among them.
‘…this won’t be easy.’
It meant things wouldn’t go smoothly on my end either.
“Tsk.”
I swallowed hard.
Then.
-Heavenly One.
Gwima spoke to me.
Through a secret transmission.
-Why is that?
-Do you intend to save the League Leader?
At those words, I narrowed my eyes.
-Should we not save him?
-Not at all. How could I presume to add words to the will of Heaven?
-Then why ask at all?
Why ask whether to save or not? At my words, Gwima looked ahead and spoke.
-If I may be so bold, should the current Shin Chang meet his end, it appears there would be gains for you in the process of the Martial Arts Alliance’s reformation….
‘Gains?’
At those words, my mind turned the matter over carefully.
The gains that would arise from Shin Chang’s death.
‘…hmm.’
There would be some. If Shin Chang dies, they would rush to select a new League Leader, and through such affairs, my reputation—firmly established without their knowing—would grant me far greater rewards.
The landscape of it all crystallized in my mind.
Indeed, that’s how it would be.
‘There would be gains, certainly.’
It wouldn’t be a bad outcome. However.
-They’re not gains I particularly desire.
Whether the gains from doing so were worth it—that was something I couldn’t fathom.
Moreover.
-I have no desire to obtain anything through such methods.
It left a bitter taste.
Gains acquired by killing those who could be saved.
It wasn’t a matter of morality or principle.
‘I fear the karma that accumulates from turning a blind eye.’
The weight that builds when I have the power to act yet choose to ignore it.
The mere thought of having to cleanse such karmic debt made me recoil.
-So if I can do it, I will.
-I see. Please act according to your convictions.
The Gwima said nothing more after that.
‘Hmm.’
I glanced sideways at the Gwima.
The Scholar of the Demonic Cult. A figure who once engaged in a battle of wits with Cheon Rijin-an.
If he would speak to me of such things, there must be genuine benefit in it, or so I thought.
‘Yet.’
I couldn’t fully trust him.
Whether the emotions he directed toward me were genuine remained unknown.
‘In any case….’
I gazed at the moon and pondered.
‘First, I must save the people.’
I needed to address the immediate matters before me.

* * *
Half a day. Once that exact time had passed, I returned to Shin Chang’s quarters.
The interior remained as before, yet strangely, there was no sense of discomfort.
“Scholar.”
“What is it?”
“Have you sent away the people around here?”
“…Yes.”
So that was why it felt less oppressive. It seemed he had cleared out all the guards from last time.
“Fewer eyes watching is better, is it not?”
“Are you certain about this?”
I wondered if it was wise to reduce Shin Chang’s guard so drastically.
“In terms of probability, it is unfavorable, but a necessary gamble.”
Surprisingly, the word “gamble” came from Cheon Rijin-an’s lips.
“You’ve wagered on me, then?”
Was this remarkable man truly gambling on me?
Curious, I pressed the matter.
“I will not engage in trivial conversation. Are all preparations complete?”
Cheon Rijin-an cut off the discussion decisively. Truly, he was a rigid old man.
“Mm.”
I observed Shin Chang. The energy from daytime was not present, yet a faint aura still existed.
Even after removing everything on the surface, it had risen again to this degree.
In the end.
‘Unless the roots are removed, it is meaningless.’
If the internal problem was not resolved, nothing would change.
“Where is what you prepared?”
“It is right there.”
Cheon Rijin-an pointed with his hand. It was a box.
It seemed momentarily obscured by Shin Chang’s aura, but a sacred energy emanated from that box.
“…How on earth did you obtain that?”
Cheon Rijin-an questioned me, as if asking whether I knew the true nature of the Divine Vessel.
“I simply received it as a gift.”
As I answered, I understood internally.
‘He does not know this was something Wol Seon-geom requested.’
It meant this was an independent action not agreed upon with Cheon Rijin-an.
‘What else has that man foreseen?’
How had he conceived of obtaining something like this?
Though it was somewhat puzzling.
‘…In any case, it will be necessary.’
Regardless, it would prove useful. While Wol Seon-geom could not have prepared this with this situation in mind, that Divine Vessel would play a crucial role.
“Then. I shall begin. Will you remain here?”
“Yes. Does it bother you?”
“No. I just mentioned it because it seems like it will take some time.”
I moved calmly to sit beside Shin Chang.
I leaned forward and performed the same actions as before.
I carefully placed my hand on his chest.
“Huuuh—”
I exhaled and drew up my vital energy.
Zzzziiing—!!
The Wol Seon-geom Path emerged, and the lines became visible.
Following them, I operated the Cyan Moon Heart Technique.
My energy slowly enveloped his body.
The blue energy swept away the miasmic scent that had accumulated slightly, and the blocked pathways opened.
Since I had cleared some of it beforehand, I reached the destination quickly.
‘…Evil energy.’
The source of the evil energy.
Seeing the filth coalesced between the dantian and heart, I slowly applied force.
‘…Ah, I haven’t really done this sort of thing even in my past life.’
I had purified and exorcised many things, but I had never performed this kind of cleansing before.
‘It would be easier if I could perform a shamanic ritual.’
I lacked the ability to conduct such a ritual. My grandmother had driven a nail into my training, forbidding me from learning shamanic practices.
In other words.
This was absolutely not within the realm of medicine.
‘Here we go.’
I slowly applied force while observing the evil energy.
Shhhhh—!!
My energy stretched out and enveloped the evil energy.
It was spiritual energy, not mere vital force.
In that moment.
Whoooosh—!!!
My consciousness was drawn in as if being sucked into that place.

* * *
“….”
I opened my eyes. An unfamiliar space filled my vision.
My body, which had been sitting, was now standing, and the room I had been in was nowhere to be found—replaced by somewhere entirely new.
‘Good. I made it.’
Seeing this, I nodded in satisfaction. The infiltration was successful.
‘…So.’
A place that gave sensations similar to a spirit dream. This was the interior of a malevolent artifact.
The interior of a malevolent artifact condensed within Shin Chang’s body.
Then where could it be?
Where was the thing I needed to cleanse?
I turned my head to search for it. There was no need to look for long.
It had to be nearby.
As I continued searching for some time.
[What a fascinating place this is.]
“…!”
At the sound of that voice, I nearly cried out involuntarily.
“…Old Man?”
[Why are you so startled?]
“How did you enter this place?”
[Hm? I just opened my eyes and found myself here.]
“…Hah.”
This is someone else’s spiritual space. I infiltrated it through invasion, but.
‘What is this old man?’
What about Yoo Cheon-gil? How did this man get here?
Did he follow me in when I entered? Was such a thing even possible…?
I regarded him with bewildered eyes.
“…What exactly did you—”
[Wait a moment.]
Yoo Cheon-gil reacted.
[Now that I think about it, this place is….]
Did he recognize something?
Just as I was about to ask him.
“유천길—!!!!”
A tremendous voice echoed from far away.
A voice brimming with fury.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————