The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 550

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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 550
Divine Sword Unity.
This differs from mere realm advancement. It is not something one can achieve simply by reaching a higher level.
According to the words of the Celestial Demon and the Sword Emperor, it is a domain that only a handful of beings with overwhelming talent in comprehension, communion with weapons, and mastery of the blade can reach—far beyond what countless insights alone could grant.
The sensation of becoming one with the sword.
In that moment, as if lost in a trance, time slows, yet my body moving within that stretched time accelerates.
As though swimming through the void itself, I fall into an indescribable state of exaltation.
I simply surrender to that flow. What I see is the sword’s tip, and all that I feel is nothing but the sword.
My body is merely its vessel.
Simply flowing as it flows, moving as it moves. Entrusting myself to that current.
My expression of Divine Sword Unity felt this abstract and ambiguous, yet I believed it to be the truth.
Overwhelming talent.
Without the Divine Sword Unity the Celestial Demon demonstrated, I would have taken far longer to reach it.
How could one manage it? It was like asking a wingless human to spread wings and soar.
That must be why the masters were so astonished when they saw me achieve Divine Sword Unity.
I once had a discussion with the Sword Emperor about Divine Sword Unity.
Calling it a discussion would be generous—I knew nothing, so I merely asked questions.
The Sword Emperor offered not complete answers, but discourse that opened paths of thought.
“What is Divine Sword Unity?”
“To become one with the sword.”
“How can a human become one with a sword?”
“One cannot. One strives to become, and this is what the sword permits.”
“The sword permits it?”
I wondered if perhaps the Celestial Demon’s soul was bound to the sword like a Divine Sword.
But that did not seem to be the case.
“If your desire to reach merely touches the heavens, and thus what you pursue and the vessel that holds it become one—”
“If the sword’s path and the destination you see are the same, then the sword will grant its permission. You already know this, do you not?”
The Sword Emperor said I already knew.
He was right. I had grasped Divine Sword Unity.
Yet.
“How can you be satisfied with this half-measure?”
It was an incomplete enlightenment.
I thought it nothing more than a meaningless gesture.
In truth, that assessment was correct.
I do not understand even half of what the Sword Emperor speaks.
Dull and lamentable talent constantly shackles my ankles.
“What good is a clever mind?”
In the end, the body belongs to the one who moves it.
The mind thinks, but the foundation of martial arts is action.
Memorization has clear limits.
Every master who taught me said the same thing consistently.
‘The mind comes first.’
Too many thoughts, and the body follows slowly behind.
And so I advanced, comprehending the unity of sword and spirit, transcending the self.
Yet it amounted to nothing.
‘Still too slow.’
The limits of my half-baked enlightenment were painfully clear.
This time is no different.
“This is really too much.”
True talent stands before me like an insurmountable wall, blocking my path.
Whoosh.
Light footsteps. A trembling figure wrapped in the blade’s edge.
An inscrutable expression and eyes holding a subtle chill.
My heightened senses and vigilance tingle as I observe her.
The unity of sword and spirit.
Yoo Yeon had one foot planted in that realm.
The atmosphere itself revealed it.
Normally I wouldn’t have known, but having stepped into that place myself, I could perceive it.
The air had changed, and the flow of the match had shifted.
The way she was perceived and the domain she possessed had transformed.
Now that I could see it, I understood.
‘Her soul has migrated into the blade.’
Yoo Yeon’s profound and complete soul flowed through the sword, flowing and moving, contained within it.
The unity of sword and spirit.
That woman had reached it.
‘How?’
How on earth?
Can anyone and everyone reach such a place? Well, not that I’m calling Yoo Yeon common or anything.
‘Rotten inferiority.’
Something that wasn’t there before rose up slightly.
This is truly excessive. How is this possible? Some must roll and tumble endlessly just to barely touch it.
Yet she had reached it so effortlessly, and it stung bitterly.
[How petty your jealousy is. The Heavenly should not concern themselves with such things.]
The Celestial Demon offered a scathing remark.
Who’s the Heavenly here? That would be you, not me.
[Merely mediocre talent at that? How laughable. Do you forget whose blood runs through her veins?]
Even now, your pride remains remarkably high.
You do acknowledge her as your daughter, then?
Yes, that’s right.
‘Whose daughter is she, after all.’
The daughter of one of the two figures who debated supremacy under heaven.
A monster that could never be omitted when discussing martial arts mastery.
If Yoo Yeon had borne the seed of such a being and given birth to that child, I naturally acknowledge her exceptional talent.
‘Is that… normal?’
[It hardly seems so.]
Yet the overwhelming nature of it remains unchanged. Even the Celestial Demon acknowledged it.
[Perhaps that child’s martial prowess might reach a level comparable to my own.]
The Celestial Demon, who was always quick to marvel at and acknowledge her own talents, now compares her daughter to herself and grants recognition.
What is this? Favoritism? She lectures me about becoming the Celestial Demon, yet here she is?
[…How increasingly sordid this becomes. I have said that the seat of heaven cannot be obtained through martial prowess alone.]
‘The Divine Sect is a place where power is everything regardless. Whether I become the Celestial Demon or not, isn’t that what truly matters?’
[Do you believe one with high martial prowess can become the Heavenly Supreme? That is far more than mere talent. It is truly the domain of heaven itself.]
A pretty way of packaging luck. I didn’t deny it. Life has always been about luck anyway.
The feeling isn’t much different.
What matters now isn’t that either.
Clang.
I grasped the blade. Not a divine weapon, just an ordinary sword. Having used top-tier martial implements, wielding this dull iron blade felt entirely different in weight and every other aspect.
‘I see it clearly now. Expensive things are better.’
It was something I already knew.
Not merely expensive, but martial implements that money alone cannot procure.
Those crafted by master artisans from the finest raw materials felt different from the very start.
Compared to light and sharp ones.
‘Heavy and dull.’
Just like me.
Like me, wielding top-tier implements despite my station.
In contrast, that child.
‘Living a life that is not top-tier, despite possessing a top-tier existence.’
Is the feeling reversed?
Or perhaps.
‘My foolish thoughts.’
Are they what make me see that child differently?
‘Stupid fool.’
Just because I glimpsed the union of divine swords, I’m shaken like this?
‘Become detached.’
When did my desires become so consuming?
If I spoke of desiring a peaceful life, I must uphold it.
I steady my breathing. The twisted thoughts quieted somewhat.
Yoo Yeon gazes at me. Merely a fleeting moment. In that gap, I changed my thoughts.
[Haha.]
The Celestial Demon laughed.
[…This is certainly quick. Unlike other things.]
It’s not worth acknowledging, so I ignore it.
“Congratulations. Though you might not hear it.”
I understand what you’re doing.
“Swinging your blade so fiercely in the dead of night—it paid off.”
I recall Yoo Yeon, who wielded her sword beside me while cutting back on sleep.
I also remember that child remaining when I went to rest.
With her simple appearance and expressionless eyes, she raised her blade endlessly in that peculiar way.
A rare specimen. That child was, in my view, a rare specimen.
One who made her inability to speak seem like nothing more than a trivial matter.
Like an ancient tree that would not easily sway to anything.
“If you’ve come to this place, then I should offer my congratulations.”
I opened my eyes differently. The white aura that bloomed through Wol Cheon.
I gathered that energy and altered my domain.
I loosened the force I had been exerting.
I killed the elasticity in my body.
I fixed my gaze on the blade’s tip. Once more, I sent that blade’s edge toward Yoo Yeon.
“….”
“….”
Clatter.
A small stone drifts slightly from the aura we both released.
From that slight movement as a starting point.
Thump.
My body moved. My blade cuts through the void.
Yoo Yeon followed me lightly.
Chime….
The sound is muted. A sharp noise should pierce the ear, but it does not.
As if moving through water. The thunderous sound heard there is like the flutter of a mosquito’s wings.
It was the same now.
Thump.
Thump thump.
Thump-
Endless movement. This constant motion becomes identical to a dance.
Rather than trying to match, we match. We move as if in agreement, performing endlessly.
‘This is my first time.’
I have no experience fighting directly against someone who has entered the state of Sword-Spirit Unity. When facing such masters, the Celestial Demon or Yoo Cheon-gil would step forward instead.
Will there ever be another battle like this, against someone of similar caliber who uses Sword-Spirit Unity?
‘…The feeling is peculiar.’
There is nothing to explain. A strange enlightenment comes from this battle.
I continue to parry her blade. I pursued Yoo Yeon’s movements endlessly. After repeating this several times, I begin to understand something.
‘She’s weak.’
Weak. Yoo Yeon still lacks refinement in her technique. I’m not particularly skilled either, but she falls short even more than I do.
I can tell just by looking at the cold sweat beading on her forehead.
She’s reaching her limit.
Swish.
I move my iron sword, channeling my energy more forcefully.
Yoo Yeon advances. The Peach Blossom Sword Dance—the absolute pinnacle technique of the Hwasan Sect.
Yoo Yeon’s blade, once called the greatest technique, is superb, and her eyes, born with the Heavenly Eye, pierce through the gaps in my sword path.
There’s no doubt about it.
Before Yoo Yeon, all other techniques would be meaningless.
Those born with the Heavenly Eye and those without show a stark difference, or so they say.
Yes, I would have been the same originally, I suppose.
‘But I have something on my side too.’
Artificial enlightenment.
Artificial Heavenly Eye.
Everything Yoo Cheon-gil created is concentrated within my body.
Whoosh.
As I move my sword, Yoo Yeon presses in. She’s trying to break through the gaps in my blade.
I see it. Her sword coming to shatter mine.
Hani.
‘I’ll take it.’
I don’t stop either.
Crack!
“…!”
Yoo Yeon’s eyes widen.
Her sword bounces back intact.
“You’re slow. Weak.”
No matter how exceptional one’s talent, a difference in realm exists.
Is there something capable of transcending that gap?
Not yet.
“Finding a gap means nothing if you can’t push through it even after breaking in. Try harder.”
“….”
Yoo Yeon furrows her brow at my words and tries to move, but—
Boom! Clang!!
The sound echoes. The greatly amplified noise signaled that the Divine Sword Unity had ended.
Slip.
Behind Yoo Yeon’s bouncing sword, the tip of my blade touches her throat.
“Over.”
“….”
Yoo Yeon moves her body, sweat dripping from her forehead.
I retrieved my sword and sheathed it at my waist.
With a smooth motion.
He pulled out an orb from his robes and handed it to me.
Seeing it, I let out an amused chuckle and reached for the orb. He was just going to give it to me. Good—no need to fight.
As I thought this and moved to take it.
“You handle yourself well.”
“Hm?”
A voice reached my ears. The moment I glanced to the side.
“Not bad at all. Are you truly a descendant of the Sword Saint?”
“…Who are you?”
“Me?”
At my question, the young man crouching there laughed.
“Take a guess.”
“…”
Ah. I see.
Through our conversation, I understood.
“You crazy bastard?”
“Ahahaha.”
The crazy man laughed at my words.

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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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