The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 556

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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 556
An Elder with white hair.
All the Elders I’d encountered thus far had white hair, and this man was no exception.
A lean frame with a somewhat fierce expression.
As befitted one called an Elder, he was undoubtedly an absolute master.
Yet.
‘Why is he glaring at me like that?’
He was staring at me. Openly, at that. I couldn’t tell if he had something to say or simply disliked me.
Probably the latter.
‘Given my position.’
The Sword Demon’s successor—that single title made me a criminal here. It was only natural, having destroyed the Demonic Cult.
I didn’t particularly see it as a problem. What more could I say when someone despised me?
But.
‘Does he really have to stare so brazenly?’
The other Elders at least pretended otherwise. This man made no such effort.
Seeing this, I turned to Woo Yeongjin beside me and asked.
“What rank is that Elder?”
“…Be quiet.”
Woo Yeongjin’s demeanor suggested I stop asking. Couldn’t he at least tell me? He’d surely gathered such information anyway.
Just as I was about to press further.
“He is the First Elder.”
“…I see.”
The First Elder. I could tell he was someone at the very pinnacle.
“…So stop asking. He is currently the highest-ranking figure in Singyeo.”
The highest authority in Singyeo. The Young Master hadn’t appeared, but the First Elder had. This was unexpected.
No matter how I thought about it, shouldn’t the Young Master have come first?
‘Though this man’s words could be his own interpretation.’
Others might say the Young Master held the highest position, but this one’s relationship with the Young Master seemed strained.
It could have been otherwise.
For now, I asked no more and observed the old man called the First Elder. Shortly after, he ascended the platform and began looking down upon us.
“Welcome.”
His soft voice gently enveloped the surroundings. Though he seemed to have put little effort into it, his voice was remarkably powerful.
“I offer my gratitude to the stars of the Academy who have participated in this training. Circumstances may have shifted somewhat…but the will of Singyeo remains unchanged.”
‘Interesting.’
My eyes narrowed at the Elder’s words.
The changed circumstances surely referred to us, and what followed—that Singyeo’s will remained unchanged—meant.
‘They still intend to maintain walls between us and Jeongpa?’
It was not something to say to those who had come seeking alliance and covenant. In other words, the First Elder’s will differed from the Young Master’s.
Put another way.
‘This could become slightly dangerous.’
From our perspective, it was a precarious situation. A power broker in the Demonic Cult apparently didn’t favor us.
‘Hmm.’
Could this become a problem? That thought crossed my mind.
‘We’ll deal with it when the time comes.’
I’d worry about it later. For now, I needed to focus on the present. As I was observing the situation—
“I am the First Elder of Singyeo. My name is Gyemun.”
Gyemun.
So the First Elder’s name was Gyemun. Did this mean I now knew four of the Elders? Though I’d never directly met Elder Lee.
‘Hmm.’
As I stared intently at Gyemun, his gaze shifted toward me.
Our eyes met for a few seconds. Then—
A sharp tingle.
Gyemun was eyeing me again with a murderous glint. Why did he keep doing that?
I was puzzled.
“I hope you will all focus on this training.”
Gyemun casually turned his gaze away and continued speaking.
“If there are any promising disciples in this training, I’m considering taking one of you under my wing.”
“…!”
Those words ignited something in me. The Disciples of Singyeo, who had been merely tense, suddenly blazed with competitive fire.
‘Is that statement really so significant?’
I tilted my head and glanced to the side. Woo Yeongjin was biting his lip, steeling his resolve.
“I hope for good results.”
With that, Gyemun vanished. He left only those brief words behind, yet it seemed to be enough.
‘Look at them.’
Their reactions were remarkable. The intensity in their eyes was unmistakable.
They were fired up enough to wage war right then and there.
Becoming a disciple of an Elder clearly held tremendous significance.
As I was thinking about that—
“Hey.”
“Hmm?”
Woo Yeongjin called out to me.
“What is it?”
“…Take this.”
He pulled a letter from his robe. Ah, intelligence.
I accepted it with a grin.
“Thank you.”
“…But I have one request.”
“What is it?”
“Participate in this training with me.”
“Hmm?”
I tilted my head in confusion. What was going on here?
“Can I participate in this one as well?”
“Yes.”
“That’s strange. I thought it was supposed to be every man for himself. But you keep forming teams.”
“To be precise, it’s not a team.”
“Then what is it?”
“This opponent is an Instructor, and coordinated attacks are simply possible in this case.”
“…What?”
The opponent was an Instructor? At those words, my eyes narrowed. I had to fight an Instructor?
“But why are you pairing me with him?”
“It seemed necessary. Why? Do you dislike it?”
“No, I don’t dislike it. We agreed to use each other’s strengths, didn’t we?”
I let out a soft laugh, and Woo Yeongjin clicked his tongue. His pride seemed somewhat wounded.
Since there was no need to concern myself with such things, I simply ignored it.
As for me, anything was fine.
‘After all.’
What I intended to use from him wasn’t ‘information’.

* * *
I reviewed the information Woo Yeongjin had provided. As I’d mentioned, it contained details about the Elders and various factional matters.
I glanced through it briefly and folded it away into my garments.
It didn’t take much time to memorize it all, but that wasn’t the point.
‘I already knew all of this anyway.’
I already possessed this information. With so many people willing to provide me intelligence, how could I not know this?
Yet the reason I accepted it was singular.
‘Whether this man would.’
attempt to deceive me or not—I wanted to discern that.
That was why I examined it.
‘Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.’
There was no deception. He handed over legitimate information. Based on this, I rendered a preliminary assessment: not bad.
And.
‘As for the other matter….’
He wanted to form a team with me. What I saw in Woo Yeongjin’s eyes was ambition and desire. He wanted to gain the favor of Elder Lee.
The puzzling part was.
‘Isn’t this man a martial artist?’
What did Woo Yeongjin, who followed the martial arts path, hope to achieve by becoming a disciple of Elder Lee?
‘Gyemun appears to be a swordsman.’
The Black Iron Demon Sword.
That was Gyemun’s epithet. They said he was on par with Sword Demon, a former member of the Eight Demon Generals?
Considering that the previous generation of Eight Demon Generals operated at a significantly higher level, one could argue that Elders and the Eight Demon Generals were essentially equivalent.
‘Not now, surely.’
I could tell from the state of Jeolma and Taema. They were incomparable to the previous Eight Demon Generals.
It meant Singyeo’s level had weakened.
At least, that’s what I observed.
‘Gathering information this way is good, but…’
I looked around my surroundings. It was that forest where I’d trained before. The cliff there. I gazed down from that vantage point.
A certain region of Singang was visible from there. After confirming it, I ran my hand through my hair.
‘When will I find that?’
The Young Master’s request. Meeting Yoo Cheon-gil’s mentor, so to speak. I wanted to make that my objective.
‘It’s not easy to escape from Singyeo.’
There were things I had to do here, so I couldn’t act carelessly.
It was frustrating. If I had another moment of rest, I’d like to wander around.
‘That too…’
There were watchful eyes. A comprehensive mess. I had to create an opportunity somehow.
While I was reminding myself of that.
“What are you doing?”
Woo Yeongjin asked.
“Aren’t you going?”
“I should go.”
We met as soon as training began. It was because we’d agreed to form an alliance.
Now that I’d met Woo Yeongjin, it was time to move.
“Hmm.”
The name of this training was…
‘Master hunting.’
It was training to assess how far one could resist against an absolute figure.
I thought it was ridiculous training, but apparently it originated from Yoo Cheon-gil.
A training method created by the Marin disciples who were dying against that monster-like figure?
‘…I understand.’
Well, that makes sense.
[Pathetically inadequate.]
The Celestial Demon expressed considerable dissatisfaction hearing such things, but there was nothing this side could do about it.
If you’re dead, you should stay quiet.
Anyway. Training with the Instructor meant scoring them on cooperation, combat, or escape methods.
“What will we do?”
“Combat, of course.”
Woo Yeongjin wanted to choose combat. Combat with the Instructor?
“We’re fighting while cooperating, right?”
“Yes.”
“But is it okay to choose me for something like that?”
I was saying I’d join hands with a Jeongpa member and fight the Instructor. Was that even allowed?
At my words, Woo Yeongjin’s face crumpled slightly as he spoke.
“This is the best option.”
“…I see.”
“You seem less filthy than the others.”
“Less filthy isn’t the same as not filthy at all. What’s the difference?”
I felt a bit offended, and a hollow laugh escaped me, but I didn’t press the matter further.
“Just the two of us? What about the others?”
“There’s no need to lose more points through excessive cooperation.”
“Understood.”
So too much teamwork would be a liability. I grasped the gist of it.
“So we’re going to search for the Instructor like this, then.”
“The Instructor will be searching for us anyway, but it’s best if we search too.”
“Right.”
That made sense.
With that settled, Woo Yeongjin and I began moving. As we went, I asked something that had been nagging at me.
“By the way.”
“What?”
“You’re from the martial world, but what do you hope to achieve by becoming a disciple of the Sword Demon?”
“….”
At my question, Woo Yeongjin paused for a moment.
“It’s not like you’re going to learn martial arts again, right?”
“…That’s true.”
Unless he emptied his dantian and relearned everything from scratch, it would be meaningless.
I wondered why he would bother becoming a disciple at all.
“Elder Lee has never taken a disciple until now.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. And while there are families he supports, even that support isn’t absolute. But becoming his disciple means.”
“You gain Elder Lee’s backing?”
“Exactly.”
“You’d rank highest among the Celestial Demon candidates.”
“Other Elders already have disciples, but Elder Lee doesn’t. So that endorsement would carry tremendous weight. Moreover.”
“Elder Lee doesn’t support the Young Master, does he?”
“….”
Woo Yeongjin stared at me with surprised eyes.
“How did you—”
“I just made an educated guess.”
I had information, and intuition played a role too. So that was it? That’s why he was doing this?
But if he becomes a disciple, what else would he learn besides martial arts?
This part still didn’t make complete sense to me.
“…So Elder Lee is….”
I was about to press further when—
“Why are you calling for me?”
…
…!
A voice cut through the air beside me.
I turned my head. There stood—
“This training wasn’t meant for idle chatter, was it?”
Elder Gyemun, the Black Iron Sword Demon.
The old man was standing before us.
“When prey start barking their mouths like this.”
He spoke with his blade lowered.

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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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