The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 5

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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 005
“First. If it’s anything related to revenge, I won’t listen.”
My first warning, directed at the Old Man.
Someone asking me to take revenge for them.
That’s exactly the kind of request I despise.
I’ve narrowly escaped death countless times because of such nonsense.
“Second. If you’re going to ask me to deliver a message to family or acquaintances, a letter is fine, but I won’t do it in person.”
I hate meeting people face-to-face to do such things.
Too often, situations become tangled in strange ways because of it.
“Third. I won’t involve myself in matters related to treasures or personal wealth either.”
There are people who care about the riches they left behind in life, even in death.
This too is from experience—those who covet the property of the dead never come to a good end.
“And finally, fourth. I don’t like being asked to take responsibility for a specific person.”
Because someone died, now I must care for their family, their grandchildren and grandsons.
Just thinking about it was tiresome and infuriating.
I can barely feed myself. I have absolutely no intention of taking anyone else under my wing.
“If there’s just one request outside of these, I’ll at least hear it.”
[…Heh heh.]
The Old Man let out a hollow laugh upon hearing my words.
Then he simply gazed at me.
[Ah, child. I can well imagine what your life has been like all this time.]
His eyes held a hint of pity.
“Yes. It hasn’t been smooth sailing. So please understand, won’t you?”
Whenever I get entangled with ghosts, miserable consequences follow.
Whether it’s me or the ghost’s side.
[Hmm.]
The ghost seemed to be contemplating something.
Was he planning to ask for one of those four things?
‘It’s not particularly strange.’
Most lingering attachments fall into one of those four categories.
It would be stranger if his didn’t fall into any of them.
Because of that, silence hung in the air for a moment.
“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll just be going-”
[This isn’t quite a request, but… child.]
“Yes.”
I wondered what it could be, when suddenly the Old Man pointed at something with his fingertip.
[Would you look carefully at that place for me?]
“Pardon?”
I looked toward where the Old Man’s finger was pointing.
I wondered what it could be, but there was nothing—just a few trees visible.
So you’re telling me to just sit and watch quietly?
“…What do you mean?”
I asked the Old Man, puzzled. There was truly nothing there.
In that moment.
Flutterflutter—!
A bird in the grass suddenly took flight.
“….”
What was that?
I looked at the Old Man with eyes asking what he was doing, but he simply smiled and scratched the back of his head.
[When someone’s watching, it becomes distracting, you see.]
“…You mean that bird?”
[Whether it’s a rat or a bird, they all have eyes, don’t they?]
What was I supposed to say?
‘I thought maybe some master was hiding somewhere, watching over me.’
Well.
Why would such a master bother watching over me? I got a little nervous for a moment.
[So then.]
Then at the Old Man’s words, I tensed up again.
Even after all this, there’s still a favor to ask?
[So what you’re saying is, as long as you don’t tell other spirits, you’ll listen to me.]
“…As long as you don’t bother me by telling other spirits or anything like that.”
If I kept ignoring such spirits, they would clearly just cling to me.
Or they’d repeat annoying pranks like today, making a nuisance of themselves.
The fortunate thing was.
‘Those who were so vivid always kept their word.’
If they decided to do something, they would see it through no matter what.
If they had something to keep, they kept it, and at least they never went back on their word.
The problem was that they wouldn’t leave until I agreed, and what they asked for was always absurdly troublesome.
[Good.]
The Old Man laughed.
[So be it.]
As expected, the Old Man nodded, accepting the condition.
After that, the Old Man told me what he wanted.
But.
“…Excuse me?”
The Old Man’s request was the kind of thing I’d never heard in my entire life.

* * *
[Name: Yeon Socheon.
Male.
Age: nineteen.
Disciple of the Miryeongmun located in Anhui.
Cultivation level: Second-rate to First-rate.]
It was the profile of a young man registered with the Murim Alliance Anhui Branch, yet not a single detail was accurate.
Not my name, not my age, not my cultivation level, nor the sect I belonged to.
The only truth among them was my gender alone.
Everything else was a lie. It couldn’t be helped.
My identity could not be revealed carelessly.
Whoosh—!
Blade light scattered through the night.
The vast Training Hall was illuminated only by a single small lantern and moonlight streaming through the window.
There, Yeon Socheon swung his sword with calm, unwavering eyes.
Swish—! Slash—! Swift and precise trajectories.
Though sweat dripped from my chin from exhaustion, my blade never wavered.
“Hah…! Huff!”
I focused on my breathing and continued to examine my sword forms.
Whooom—!
The blade cut through the air, wind trailing behind it. Full of power.
Crash—!
The sword wrapped in qi tore through the void, moving so fast it was barely visible.
A hundred times, a thousand times. Despite the countless repetitions, I wielded my blade with relentless determination.
After continuing for a while longer, I completed my final downward strike and straightened my stance.
“…Hah…”
Heat filled the Training Hall. I wiped the sweat from my chin and steadied my breathing.
The air still shimmered with warmth.
Standing within it, I wore an expression of dissatisfaction.
It couldn’t be otherwise.
‘This isn’t it.’
Day after day.
Days without missing once, swinging my sword.
I had been doing this for three years already.
Palms splitting and calluses hardening in endless repetition. Despite all this effort.
My cultivation level advanced slowly, and my martial progress had stalled.
I felt trapped by a heart demon.
‘How could I possibly…’
Achieve the form my sect pursues?
I felt a deep thirst.
The image from my childhood.
The form of moonlight that he had shown me.
Yeon Socheon had been dreaming of that sword from back then.
A brilliant blade that seemed to cut through moonlight itself.
I swing my sword daily, trying to recreate it, yet I can never reach or grasp that feeling.
What is the problem?
Why can’t my sword draw what I desire?
‘…I don’t know.’
I don’t know.
Then I must swing my sword until I do.
I must, yet before me lies an endless, boundless sea with no horizon in sight.
Standing there felt suffocating and helpless.
‘Get a grip. Calm yourself. You’ve already found traces of him now.’
Crunch!
I tightened my grip on the hilt.
Yes, even if I don’t understand now, someday I will.
For now, I needed to focus on finding what he left behind rather than perfecting my martial arts.
I had to obtain it.
‘…Then I’ll have my chance too.’
Yeon Socheon steadied his resolve and his eyes gleamed with determination.
Then.
“Ahem.”
A sound came from behind.
At that voice, Yeon Socheon turned his head.
From the entrance, a young man with a youthful appearance was looking this way.
Seeing him, I recalled his name. What was it again?
‘…Bangseong-yeon, wasn’t it?’
A low-ranking member of the Martial Alliance who was disrespected by others.
Even Daeju said there was no need to pay attention to him.
What was peculiar was that despite being so scorned and oppressed, he didn’t seem discouraged at all.
He was a different sort of person from me.
‘….’
Moreover, I happened to have something to say to him.
For that reason, I had been waiting here in the Training Hall under the pretense of practice until now.
Wiping sweat from my brow with cloth, I walked toward the young man.
Seeing him, I recalled what I needed to say.
First, an apology.
Though I claimed ignorance, it took far too long for me to sense something was amiss, just as he had said.
The way those in my unit watched my every move.
How I alone received separate quarters and lived there.
I had accepted the task of standing night watch, but that too was an act of consideration.
From Daeju down to every single person, they all treated me with utmost courtesy.
It was all special treatment.
If that young man hadn’t pointed it out, I probably would never have realized it.
As he said, these were things that had perhaps seemed natural to me all along.
Recalling that.
“Um, Bangseong-yeon….”
Just as Yeon Socheon was about to speak to Bangseong-yeon.
“Your waist.”
Bangseong-yeon spoke first to Yeon Socheon.
“Pardon?”
My waist?
What was he suddenly talking about? Yeon Socheon tried to express confusion, but.
Bangseong-yeon simply continued with his words.
“You’re putting too much tension in your waist.”
“What do you mean all of a sudden…?”
As Bangseong-yeon spoke, he pointed to Yeon Socheon’s waist with his hand.
“I understand the desire to channel power into the blade, but your method is flawed.”
“Bangseong-yeon?”
What was he saying?
Yeon Socheon blinked and stared at him.
“Power isn’t something you ‘put in’—it’s something that ‘flows through.’ When unnecessary force mingles with it, the power doesn’t radiate outward; it becomes bound instead.”
“…!”
Only after hearing that far did Yeon Socheon grasp what Bangseong-yeon was trying to say.
The moment I understood, my face twisted.
“You….”
The form of address changed from “Bangseong-yeon” to something else. It had crossed far beyond the line of jest.
A mere human who hadn’t even reached the level of a second-rate martial artist.
Was such a person truly attempting to offer me instruction?
Yeon Socheon had no choice but to glare at Bangseong-yeon without even managing to control his expression.
I don’t discriminate based on cultivation level, but this was a different matter.
“…What exactly are you doing, appearing out of nowhere like this?”
Secretly observing a martial artist’s training was an enormous breach of etiquette.
In such a situation, for an inferior to presume to instruct a superior—what could be more absurd?
And moreover.
‘A person who knows nothing about my sword technique.’
How dare he claim to know anything.
Or claim to have seen anything.
Yeon Socheon barely managed to suppress the rising fury.
Yet even amid this, Bangseong-yeon still had more to say, ignoring the reaction and continuing.
“Attempting to force strength into it would only result in artificial motion. What truly matters isn’t simply swinging with brute force—”
Whoosh—!
“!”
Bangseong-yeon, mid-sentence, could say no more as his lips sealed shut.
Yeon Socheon’s frigid blade had come to rest against his throat.
“That will be enough. I find I cannot listen any further.”
“….”
I could feel the contact.
Any closer, and my skin would split open.
Sensing this, Bangseong-yeon spoke with evident distress.
“…If we continue much further, I fear I might actually die here?”
Was he speaking to Yeon Socheon?
Hearing this, he responded in an angry voice.
“I have refrained because I felt a small measure of gratitude toward you. But if you persist in such presumptuous behavior….”
“Ah, then should I stop?”
“…Clench.”
Did this man truly wish to die?
I genuinely wondered.
I couldn’t fathom why he’d suddenly act this way, and already struggling with my martial cultivation, this situation made restraint extraordinarily difficult.
The blade’s edge trembled, quivering with fury.
Yeon Socheon forced himself to master his emotions before speaking.
“…Leave…. And speak to me no more. Whatever your reasons, there will be no next time.”
Speaking with such cold emotion, Bangseong-yeon simply gazed at Yeon Socheon.
Was he planning to deflect even this as a jest?
If so, I truly wouldn’t be able to endure it.
Fortunately, Bangseong-yeon refrained from speaking further, as I wished.
Merely shrugging his shoulders slightly thereafter.
Whoosh—! He turned his back and began walking away without the slightest hesitation.
Watching his departing figure, Yeon Socheon exhaled sharply.
“Ha…?”
What on earth was that?
I pondered, watching his back.
It was laughable that I had briefly thought well of this man.
What had it been?
Yeon Socheon had been moved by Bangseong-yeon’s words and sought out Daeju.
He then requested to exchange his assigned quarters for the common dormitory where regular members stayed, and asked that his night watch rotation be reassigned as well.
At this, Daeju sensed something was amiss and observed Yeon Socheon carefully, and through that observation, I confirmed my suspicion once more.
That I was indeed receiving special treatment.
Now that I understood this, I would gradually correct what I could.
Furthermore, I would offer both apology and gratitude to Bangseong-yeon, who had granted me this revelation.
That was what I had been thinking.
‘How pathetic.’
To have regarded such a charlatan favorably, even for a moment.
Grrr-!
Yeon Socheon clenched his teeth as if suppressing his anger, then turned on his heel.
He headed back toward the Training Hall.
In this state of mind, I could not possibly rest.
I would have to dispel this irritation with my blade as well.
With that thought, I drew my sword once more and began to practice the sword forms anew.
Yet strangely, unnecessary words kept surfacing in my mind.
‘You’re putting too much tension in your waist.’
‘I understand your desire to channel power into the blade, but your method is flawed.’
“….”
Such ridiculous remarks should have been easy to dismiss, but once I became aware of them, they continued to gnaw at me.
Why should the words of a third-rate martial artist so far beneath me weigh on my mind?
‘Power is not something you ‘place’—it is something that ‘flows’.’
‘When unnecessary force mingles with it, power becomes bound rather than released.’
‘Tension in your waist….’
So power does not flow into the blade but instead becomes constrained.
It was absurd reasoning.
Then, was he suggesting I loosen the tension in my waist?
Waist tension exists to prevent the sword’s momentum from spiraling out of control.
To release it would ruin my stance and recoil entirely.
Even those who had just begun their martial journey would know such a basic fact.
Yet why had he spoken such words?
Perhaps due to this sudden doubt, Yeon Socheon unconsciously loosened the tension in his waist slightly.
Then.
Shiiing!!! Whoooosh-!
The blade cut through the air with a sharp, piercing cry.
“…What?”
Yeon Socheon’s body went rigid as stone at the sight.

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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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