The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 390
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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 390
“Ugh.”
I wrapped bandages around my sore body.
I never expected to get hurt so soon after my rebirth.
‘Though, strictly speaking, it’s not really an injury.’
It was simply my muscles being startled.
‘I can’t control this transformed body.’
It was difficult to command my overall strengthened physique.
Considering that Wol Seon-geom never actually attacked me.
‘It seems my body just panicked on its own.’
Embarrassingly, that was likely the reason.
“Hiss…”
I moved my body further. My muscles tingled. I could feel them gradually improving.
‘…I’ll need to train to truly understand it.’
The altered length of my limbs. Strengthened muscles and a widened, hardened vessel.
Even the density of my inner energy contained within had grown more concentrated.
I needed time to comprehend how and where these changes had occurred.
“Hmm.”
Where had the Old Man gone this time, when he could have easily explained this to me?
‘Always absent when needed.’
I found myself subtly curious about Yoo Cheon-gil’s whereabouts.
“…What comes next, then.”
I recalled the conversation I’d had with Wol Seon-geom right after our match.
‘For now, don’t reveal yourself. Keep your body hidden.’
Wol Seon-geom wanted me to conceal the fact that I’d undergone my rebirth.
Though it seemed he didn’t want me to hide it forever.
‘There will be a time to reveal myself in a few days.’
‘Until then, I should remain in seclusion as much as possible.’
“…Hmm.”
Don’t reveal yourself. In a few days, there will be a time to reveal yourself?
‘What could he mean.’
I didn’t know what would happen in these coming days, but something certainly would.
These were words spoken directly by Wol Seon-geom himself, no one else.
The problem was.
‘…I can’t truly remain in seclusion for just a few days.’
I had my own schedule and plans. I couldn’t simply stay idle.
Above all else.
“There’s something.”
‘Of all times.’
Someone was desperately searching for me.
* * *
The one who came seeking me was Paewang. He had already arranged a schedule to visit today. Paewang entered my room without hesitation.
The problem was…
‘How did he find this place?’
It was a dormitory that Wol Seon-geom had provided for me to lie low in. I had chosen a secluded spot that was hard to see and even moved locations, yet Paewang found this place without any difficulty.
“You could’ve at least told me if you were going to move. Finding you was quite the hassle.”
“…I’m more surprised that you found me at all.”
Paewang chuckled and took a seat. At the same time, he looked at me as if to say something.
“So now… Hm?”
He trailed off, looked at me, and widened his eyes.
“Heh.”
Followed by a short, dry cough. After letting that out,
“Ahahaha!”
He burst into hearty laughter. After laughing for a while, Paewang finally stopped and said,
“Look at you. You managed to do something interesting in such a short time.”
As expected, he had figured it out. It would’ve been strange if he hadn’t.
“…That’s how it turned out.”
“You didn’t break through the wall alone. Who was it? The Cheonwol Munchu? No, that friend wouldn’t do something so underhanded…”
Underhanded? The phrase nagged at me somewhat, but I ignored it for now.
“Was it the work of your dead master?”
He guessed correctly. At those words, I scratched my cheek and replied,
“Yes.”
“Ha. That old fool. Even after death, he prepared quite a lot.”
Tsk tsk. His short tongue-clicking carried more amazement than displeasure.
“What did you gain?”
“…A modest opportunity.”
“Modest? That’s a funny way to put it.”
Paewang twisted his lips.
“I acknowledge that you’re talented, but you couldn’t have overcome that place alone.”
His tone was resolute. He spoke with absolute certainty that I couldn’t have achieved such a transformation by myself.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because even the Sword Saint of all under heaven couldn’t have done such a thing.”
He had made the Sword Saint the standard for what was possible or impossible.
‘…Isn’t that a bit much?’
I had already witnessed Yoo Cheon-gil’s youth in the spirit dream, and that man was already a monstrous existence at my age.
‘It’s still unclear.’
The last spirit dream showed Yoo Cheon-gil at twenty years old.
If I were to face that monster again now, what would happen?
‘…Gulp.’
I cannot envision a future where I emerge victorious. Even after reaching the pinnacle and undergoing a complete metamorphosis, such a vision eludes me.
‘Where does this belief come from, that even such a man could not accomplish it?’
I cannot fathom it. Yet Paewang possessed such unwavering conviction.
“Perhaps he’s hidden something amusing. Something so entertaining that it surpasses all of this.”
“Must you truly tell me what that amusing thing is?”
“No, there’s no need for that.”
Paewang trailed off mid-sentence and leaned his back against the wall.
“Regardless, it matters not. What matters is not your metamorphosis or anything of the sort.”
“….”
He was merely expressing surprise with his question, and I exhaled a silent breath of relief.
I was relieved that there was no need to explain further.
It was equally surprising that Paewang’s curiosity stopped right there.
“Very well. Now that it’s settled…, we should attend to what we must, should we not?”
“…Mm.”
At Paewang’s words, I furrowed my brow.
‘Is he asking me to obtain the Divine Sword from Bigo?’
What Paewang needed. That crescent-shaped Divine Sword I witnessed in Bigo.
He had come requesting that I hand it over.
‘Is this acceptable?’
I wondered if I could give it without Yoo Cheon-gil’s consent. Though Paewang was the original owner, Yoo Cheon-gil was the current possessor.
‘Damn it. So where did he go?’
I needed Yoo Cheon-gil to employ the method I had devised, yet that man had not appeared.
“Are you listening?”
At Paewang’s words, I came to my senses. I paused my thoughts and replied to him.
“Ah, yes. I am listening.”
“I asked if you could go now.”
“…Well.”
What should I do? Should I make some excuse and deflect his words?
As I pondered such things.
“…Yes. I understand. Let us go.”
I resolved to accept instead.
‘…First.’
There was a method I could employ even without Yoo Cheon-gil.
I had prepared for that contingency.
* * *
I moved alongside Paewang. The path to the Secret Chamber was hidden throughout all the residences, though.
‘I cannot reveal such secrets to Paewang.’
Unable to share even such secrets, I guided Paewang around carefully.
During this, I was cautious not to bump into anyone else, and I had already asked Paewang for his assistance with this.
“There’s no one nearby.”
“Thank you.”
When I asked him to determine whether there were people in the vicinity, he readily accepted.
It was something he needed anyway, so he was all the more willing.
“It’s around here.”
“Mm.”
I entered an empty residence and opened the Wol-an.
I approached the empty drawer and felt around it several times.
Click.
Whirrrrrr—! The floor opened with the sound of a mechanism activating.
“Ha.”
Paewang let out a brief exclamation upon seeing it.
“…I wondered whose work this was. So it was that man Dokjon.”
Remarkably, he seemed to immediately recognize whose hands had created this mechanism.
“Let us descend.”
I climbed down the ladder with Paewang. Since I came here often, it no longer felt unfamiliar.
The place we arrived at was the first chamber of the Secret Chamber.
“It’s cramped?”
Paewang surveyed the surroundings immediately upon entering the Secret Chamber. It was a relatively narrow and dark space.
“Hmm…”
Then he approached the wall and tapped it several times with his hand.
“It’s thick. I couldn’t break it with my fists.”
“…Were you checking whether it could be broken or not?”
“No, well…”
Paewang laughed and trailed off. It seemed he was indeed thinking of breaking it if circumstances allowed.
What was remarkable was.
‘That he came to a definitive conclusion that he couldn’t break it.’
The Paewang, one of the Five Sovereigns of All Under Heaven, had judged that this wall could not be easily destroyed.
This Secret Chamber truly seemed to be no ordinary place.
Clang.
I drew my sword and opened the door using the method I knew. Paewang reacted upon seeing this.
“Oho…”
With a brief exclamation, he moved forward first.
“Follow me.”
“No wonder it was difficult to discover and even harder to open. Those two old men must have orchestrated quite the scheme.”
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Laughter echoes through the passage.
“Sword Saint. That cunning old man… seems to have done quite a lot for you.”
“…”
For me? I didn’t even respond to such absurd words.
‘For me, my ass.’
It was purely for his own benefit. Given that old man’s nature, there’s no way he would have done anything for me.
So I ignored Paewang’s words and headed toward the second mechanism.
Upon arriving there, I looked at Paewang and pointed to one spot with my hand.
“Is that the object, sir?”
“Hmm? Ah.”
Paewang’s gaze follows my hand, and his eyes widen. A dark gray sash lay sprawled on the floor.
“…Yes, that’s it. Finally…”
Paewang’s eyes grow serious as he approaches it. The moment I see that, I grab his shoulder.
“Wait…”
Whoooosh—!!
“…!”
The instant I grab his shoulder, a tremendous pressure bears down on me.
“…What are you doing?”
Perhaps stopping his steps was the problem. Paewang glances at me with a murderous gaze. My breath catches from just that brief eye contact.
‘…Insane.’
Is this Paewang’s true momentum? My knees nearly buckled.
“…I will give it to you… I will, but… please wait just a moment.”
“…”
As I force out the words, the pressure gradually dissipates.
“My apologies. I didn’t mean to. Aha.”
He tries to speak as if nothing happened, but Paewang’s momentum has already swept across my entire body.
‘…What a temperament.’
I had momentarily forgotten that all the old men connected to Yoo Cheon-gil are strange.
“So. Why did you stop me?”
“I want to give it to you as well, but there’s a certain circumstance.”
“A circumstance?”
“Yes. If you don’t mind, could you give me just a few drops of blood?”
“…What?”
Blood. At those words, Paewang’s brow furrows.
How should I explain this? I pause briefly before speaking to him.
“There’s an issue with the mechanism. I need it to access the object.”
The mechanism created by Dokjon. At my words about needing blood to retrieve the object, Paewang’s expression becomes reluctant.
One.
“Understood.”
He casually extends his fist.
Drip, drip, drip.
Blood streamed from my fist.
“Will this suffice?”
I couldn’t even tell when I’d inflicted the wound. The moment I saw it, I hastily pulled a talisman from my robes.
“Yes. It is sufficient.”
Startled by the sheer volume of blood, I nevertheless soaked the talisman with it.
Then.
Slip.
I affixed it lightly to my hand and grasped the armband.
‘This should work.’
I concealed my soul with blood.
Just as if I had become the Paewang, I hid my spirit and transferred the karma that would have resided here to the armband.
‘…The issue is that the armband is a Divine Sword.’
If I transferred it this way, I could pass the karma that would have remained here directly to the Paewang.
‘After all, he is the original master. He should be able to endure this much.’
I judged it would be fine since it wasn’t a particularly potent curse.
“Here, take thi—”
The moment I tried to hand the armband to the Paewang.
Zzzzzzzzzing—!!
“Huh?”
“What?”
The armband began to vibrate.
“Wait, why is it—”
As my eyes widened at the vibration.
Crack, crack, crack—!!!
“Eh?”
Suddenly, the armband coiled around my wrist.
Both my eyes and the Paewang’s eyes widened like lanterns.
Something.
‘…I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.’
A sense of profound wrongness washed over me.
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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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