The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 38
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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 038
An empty box.
The faint scent of medicinal herbs lingering within suggested something had once been stored here, yet now it contained nothing.
“…What is this?”
Why is it empty? It shouldn’t be empty!
I thrust the box forward with a bewildered expression, and Yoo Cheon-gil stared at it intently.
Then, scratching the back of his head, he spoke to me.
[It’s been cleaned out?]
“…What?”
[Hahaha. Well, it’s been cleaned out alright.]
Yoo Cheon-gil burst into hearty laughter. That damnable laugh was unbearable every time I heard it.
“You find this funny?”
[How could I not? Someone had the audacity to raid my hidden snacks.]
“Then shouldn’t you be angry instead of laughing?”
[No. I should laugh.]
Yoo Cheon-gil, who had been laughing heartily, suddenly wiped the smile from his face.
[Someone dared to plunder my warehouse without fear. How could I not find that amusing?]
“…!”
In that instant, I felt the air grow heavy and suffocating.
My breath caught, and my entire body erupted in goosebumps.
‘…Insane.’
I nearly stumbled backward without thinking.
So that’s how it is. This man.
‘He’s absolutely furious.’
That laughter wasn’t mere laughter. He was genuinely enraged.
Somehow his smile seemed far more terrifying than usual.
[How on earth could they have breached it….]
At his puzzled words, I narrowed my eyes and spoke.
“Didn’t you say all the passages were connected? Someone simply came and took what they wanted, didn’t they?”
At my words, Yoo Cheon-gil furrowed his brow. His expression suggested he found my answer deeply unsatisfying.
[Impossible.]
“Why? There are plenty of cultivators with inner strength. Even by chance, opening it would be simple….”
[If all inner strength were the same, perhaps. But it isn’t.]
“…Pardon?”
[Haven’t you felt it? That not all Moonlight Heart Cultivation is the same.]
“….”
At Yoo Cheon-gil’s words, I bit my tongue slightly.
It was a fact I had already recognized.
I simply lacked certainty about it.
[The reason the elder and that brat suspect you yet don’t treat you harshly. You should have noticed by now.]
“…Is it because I possess your heart technique, Old Man?”
[Yes, exactly that… No, the honorific changed in an instant.]
It seemed to bother me that I’d dropped from “sir” to “old man.”
“That’s not what matters right now, is it?”
[It’s a bit important to me-]
“So, in any case, this space cannot be opened without your heart technique.”
[…Yes.]
“But someone opened it and came inside, then took Youngsoon…?”
That meant.
“Either there exists another person with the same heart technique as you, or.”
[Even without that, it could be opened. It means there’s someone else who knows this location.]
“…Oh.”
In short.
“We’re screwed?”
It meant the situation was far from favorable.
‘Whichever it is, it’s an anomaly.’
It was beyond my calculations, and even attempting to calculate it proved complex.
Even if I somehow knew about the heart technique, knowing this location was different.
‘From the Old Man’s reaction, it doesn’t seem like he told anyone about it.’
Assuming they discovered the location somehow, there were eight doors total when I looked around.
He said devices were installed throughout the building, so the number of doors didn’t match.
‘Probably couldn’t create all doors, so some passages must be connected to each other.’
The possibilities were numerous. With so many entrances, there was certainly a risk of discovery.
“What about the possibility they forced their way through the devices?”
[Impossible.]
I nodded at the firm answer.
“Why do you think so?”
[Didn’t I say it before? The one who created this is the Eccentric Old Man of the Dang Clan.]
“What does that have to do with it?”
[Despite his insane personality, his skills are exceptional. There’s no possibility he made a mistake.]
“….”
Such unwavering faith. It seemed he was truly that skilled of a craftsman….
‘Still, I need to consider it.’
That’s Yoo Cheon-gil’s faith, not mine. Since I’m the one doing the work, I had to add possibilities to my mind.
“What you’re saying ultimately means they must have entered through the proper entrance… Is that even possible?”
[I don’t know.]
“…Pardon?”
[Isn’t that something you need to figure out from now on?]
“Wow, you really are crazy, aren’t you?”
[…You’re not even bothering with indirect language anymore.]
How could I even explain this? Even if I could, I wouldn’t have.
You’d have to be shameless enough for that. This isn’t some joke, after all.
“Did the Yeon Sect ever exist in the first place?”
[So now you’re doubting that?]
“Your memories aren’t entirely intact, after all. And frankly, it’s more convenient this way.”
Rather than dealing with a complicated mess from an incident, it was far better if the old man had simply lost his mind.
But.
[The Yeon Sect definitely existed.]
Yoo Cheon-gil was resolute once again.
[How many treasures did I strip from that Shaolin bald bastard and that Huashan horse-faced fool…! It absolutely existed.]
“…A bald monk and a horse-faced fool?”
[That’s right, Shaolin’s Demon Buddha and Huashan’s Plum Blossom One Sword….]
“There… stop right there… Don’t say any more.”
I cut him off urgently. Just hearing their aliases made my knees buckle.
‘…Demon Buddha and Plum Blossom One Sword?’
The former abbot of Shaolin and the current sect leader of Huashan.
It was already terrifying hearing the aliases of the current Central Plains’ Heavenly Experts pouring out.
‘He stripped those two and took their treasures?’
Just hearing it was absurd.
Moreover, if I interpreted this differently.
‘…There’s a high probability they were the Great Restoration Pill and the Purple Frost Pill.’
Those were Shaolin and Huashan’s representative Yeon Sect treasures. Suddenly my stomach ached.
“…Damn it, what bastard took my Yeon Sect treasures.”
[No, why have they been yours from the start….]
“If they had existed, they would’ve all been mine…!”
[…Yeah, that’s right.]
“What kind of bastard….”
To have taken all those precious, valuable things. If only I could catch them.
Honestly, even if I caught them, there wasn’t much I could do, but I was still furious.
“…Sigh.”
Then suddenly my anger cooled completely.
‘There’s no point in doing this anyway.’
Since I’d confirmed they didn’t exist, there was no reason to stay here.
Coming here for nothing had only made my head more complicated.
“Let’s head back up….”
I turned my back. I was planning to leave before it got any later.
[Stop.]
Yoo Cheon-gil called me to a halt.
“Why? If someone comes, it’ll be difficult to cover this up….”
[You said the box was emptied. But you didn’t say it was completely emptied, did you?]
“…!”
I heard those words and immediately turned my back.
“…Respected elder. That statement is…!”
[….]
Yoo Cheon-gil glanced at me with a brief look of disdain, but soon erased his expression and pointed ahead.
Following the direction of his finger, my gaze shifted to the wall.
“What is it?”
It was just an empty wall. I examined it carefully, but there was nothing to see.
Then.
[My boy. My snack warehouse is hardly this small.]
My eyes widened at the Old Man’s words.
[That’s right.]
At my question, Yoo Cheon-gil burst into laughter.
[Let’s go to the next room.]
This wasn’t the end.
* * *
I approached the wall and stared at it. Still, there was nothing particularly visible.
I touched it lightly. It was cold. And it felt no different from any other wall.
“You’re saying the entrance is here.”
[That’s right.]
Could there really be something? No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t see anything.
‘If he told me to go to the next room, shouldn’t there at least be a doorknob?’
Such thoughts crossed my mind, but they were meaningless.
‘Well, if something like that existed, it wouldn’t be a secret room.’
After touching it several more times, I asked Yoo Cheon-gil.
“What should I do now?”
[Who knows?]
“Pardon?”
What kind of ridiculous answer was that? I furrowed my brow and looked at Yoo Cheon-gil.
‘Look at this old man.’
The Old Man’s expression was strange. He wasn’t genuinely unable to answer.
What played at the corners of his mouth was unmistakably mischief.
Seeing that, I understood the Old Man’s intent.
Go ahead and figure it out yourself. That intention was abundantly clear.
“…Are you joking even at a time like this?”
[Give it a try.]
“No, even in this situation….”
[My boy, if you figure this out, I’ll give you something even better.]
“…Something better?”
My ears perked up slightly. There was no denying it—I was indeed a materialist.
“What kind of good thing?”
[Hmm… what should I give you? Ah, that’s it.]
Yoo Cheon-gil clapped his massive hands together.
[That Silent Steel Sword I mentioned before. I’ll give you something even better than that.]
“…!”
[I was thinking I needed a sword anyway. This works out well, doesn’t it?]
“…”
[If you accomplish this, I’ll place it in your hands. So go ahead and search for it.]
Something better than the Silent Steel Sword?
What could that possibly be? I had no idea, but.
“…I’m just going to try, then?”
Whatever I obtained would be good. Thinking that way, I stared at the wall.
‘Opening the door.’
There was naturally no doorknob, and touching it revealed no information. Yet Yoo Cheon-gil had said there was a door leading onward in this place, and furthermore.
‘Telling me to figure it out myself means there’s something here that can show me the way.’
Or perhaps.
‘Even if the method isn’t in this place, he already taught me beforehand so I could do it.’
That conclusion emerged.
I narrowed my eyes and stared at the wall.
The space was dark. There were no lanterns, nor any fixtures to hang them from.
It meant this space itself had never been designed with such things in mind.
The reason was likely the application of the energy technique the Old Man had taught me earlier.
‘Holding inner force in the eyes to brighten one’s vision.’
It was a method I was already using.
‘…’
Thinking about it made my chest sink slightly.
‘This is strange.’
He could have told me to bring a lantern or informed me beforehand.
Even though that old man appeared ignorant, I already knew his inner force cultivation was formidable.
Yet he went so far as to enter this space and possess me to teach me. The reason behind it.
I focused on that point.
‘He definitely told me to find something.’
Find what? Recalling his words, I put force into my eyes.
Whoosh.
The inner force continuously rotating within me responded. The rotation’s speed increased slightly.
‘…Phew.’
I controlled my breathing. As I increased the speed, instability reached its peak.
One moment of carelessness and everything would shake apart.
Knowing that, I still increased the speed.
Until I reached the limits of what I could endure.
The moment I did, my vision brightened slightly.
‘Is this all there is?’
It was merely brighter—nothing more. There was nothing distinct to see.
Was this the wrong approach?
‘This is getting difficult.’
It seemed I needed a different method, so I began to reduce the rotation—
*Screeeech—!*
“…!”
At the peak of the rotation, something faintly appeared on the wall.
A line. Shallow and translucent, yet unmistakably etched upon the surface.
In that instant.
*Thud—!*
My inner strength collapsed, and darkness returned. I could no longer sustain the rotation as my energy dissipated.
My vision plunged back into darkness.
Within it, I closed my eyes.
[Oho?]
Yoo Cheon-gil reacted with intrigue, though his voice did not reach my ears.
‘It was a line.’
A line drawn upon the wall.
A horizontal line. If I measured its length, it spanned roughly seven feet.
What I saw with eyes infused with inner strength was undeniably real.
A hidden passage within the seemingly empty wall.
Its entrance was concealed, and there was no handle.
Yet a seven-foot line tinged with azure light was visible.
I connected the pieces.
‘What I did when entering this warehouse.’
The drawer’s movement. I used inner strength when opening the first drawer after removing the third.
What should I focus on in this action?
‘This place and Yoo Cheon-gil’s inner strength are deeply connected.’
Which meant.
‘This secret door is also related.’
My thoughts raced swiftly.
Not long after.
*Whoosh.*
I reached my conclusion.
I drew the sword from my waist and lowered my stance.
My eyes remained closed.
After all, keeping them open had revealed nothing. Why not simply brighten my vision?
‘No.’
Unfortunately, I lacked the capacity to deploy martial arts while wielding it.
Whoooosh!
My inner energy circulated once more, revitalizing my body.
‘Remember.’
Just as I had demonstrated before the Munju.
I captured that moment’s air and that moment’s form within myself.
The energy erupting from my dantian swiftly coiled around the blade.
In the darkness, only my sword gleamed with azure light.
As the energy flowed and accumulated at the sword’s tip.
[Can you manage with your eyes closed?]
Yoo Cheon-gil asked.
I did not answer. My entire being was concentrated, leaving no room to open my mouth. I only thought to myself.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
It doesn’t matter if I cannot see.
‘I saw it when my eyes were open.’
I had already perceived the line. I grasped its location and length.
That was sufficient for me.
Even with my eyes closed, even shrouded in darkness, I could see it.
No—I remembered it.
쉬이이익—!!
Without hesitation, I swung my blade.
Moon’s Radiance unfolded from my hand once more.
Crack—!
The sword’s tip passed through the wall.
Not touching it directly, but precisely one inch away.
[…Ha!]
At this sight, Yoo Cheon-gil released a sharp breath of astonishment.
쿠구구구궁—!!!
Then a tremendous sound erupted from the wall.
It was correct.
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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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