The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 80

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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 080
It was around the time Dang Yeeran turned seventeen.
As with all bloodline members, those of direct descent naturally learned the clan’s martial arts.
Dang Yeeran was no exception.
The Dang Clan’s martial arts were founded upon ruthlessness.
Since poison mastery and assassination techniques formed the foundation, she received rigorous training from childhood.
That process was brutally cruel.
It was suffering that children not yet ten years old could scarcely endure.
Yet it was a trial every member of the Dang bloodline had to undergo.
Through this ordeal, Dok-ryong endured all the training without faltering, earning comparisons to the childhood of Dokjon, who was the clan lord at that time.
A genius.
The future of the Dang Clan rested upon that child.
Everyone who saw Dok-ryong spoke thus.
It was only natural.
Having survived the Dang Clan’s cruel training without a single failure, not only the elders of the three great clans but all martial artists called him by that name.
A radiant light.
That was how they saw him.
Then an anomaly occurred.
It was Dang Yeeran, Dok-ryong’s sister.
When she emerged from what was called the bloodline training—the Dok Yeolmae-ok—those who witnessed her at that time could only gasp in astonishment.
It was training that even Dok-ryong merely endured.
Yet Dang Yeeran did not merely survive the training; she absorbed all the poison poured into that place and developed immunity to it.
A body truly blessed for learning poison mastery.
Not only Dok-ryong but his younger sister possessed innate talent as well.
The future of the Dang Clan shone so brightly. Those who witnessed such miraculous hope held great expectations for the two siblings.
But.
The expectations placed upon the siblings wavered one day.
On an autumn day when the sky hung high and a cool breeze blew.
It was the day Dang Yeeran defeated her brother Dok-ryong in a martial contest.
Dok-ryong lay collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.
And Dang Yeeran watched him with trembling eyes.
In the heavy silence that fell, Dang Yeeran, her hands shaking, spoke.
‘I… I don’t… want to do this anymore…’
Her frightened gaze was brimming with tears.
Droplets rolled down, grazing the tip of her chin.
That day.
Dang Yeeran declared she would no longer study martial arts.
From that day onward.
The moment Dok-ryong began to regard Dang Yeeran with contempt.
And the moment Dang Yeeran began frantically learning the art of pottery.
Moreover.
The day Dokjon, the greatest elder of the Dang Clan and the one called Heaven, passed away.
It was only a few days apart from that day.

* * *
Clang—!
I put strength into my shoulder and strike down forcefully.
Clang—!
With each sound, beads of sweat fell from the woman’s face.
Even as droplets fell ceaselessly, she did not wipe them away. As if such things were beneath her notice, she focused solely on what lay before her.
‘A little more.’
A little stronger.
Clang—!
‘Just a bit more….’
Just a bit more precisely.
Clang—!!
The crisp sound continues to ring out in steady rhythm.
The small room was already filled with intense heat.
Clang—! Clang—!!
The woman.
Dang Yeeran clenched her teeth and swung the hammer.
Gradually, I sink deeper into focus, riding the flow.
What awaits at the end of this act of enduring the heat?
What do I wish to create?
Unable to decide, only questions remained.
Yet the woman did not hesitate.
Anything would suffice.
I am content with whatever is born from these delicate hands.
Clang—!!
My grandfather once told me.
Rather than the result of what you wish to create.
‘What you imbue within it.’
How much and what can you pour into this?
He told me to find that.
That, he said, is what makes a true artisan.
But.
‘What is that?’
I have yet to discover what I must imbue.
I am young and inexperienced.
Still too stubborn, I have not yet found the path I must walk.
How could I possibly contain anything when I cannot even grasp the thread of it all?
Dang Yeeran understood herself well.
She was not yet prepared to contain anything.
One.
Clang—!!
Yet she did not stop.
Clang—!!
Beyond focus lay obsession.
Dang Yeeran had become obsessed with her own actions.
‘This is all I have.’
I must do what I can.
Pottery was everything to me, and it had to be the path I must walk.
So I could not stop, not even for a moment.
With that thought, just as Dang Yeeran was about to swing the hammer again.
‘In the end, are you running away again?’
A voice pierced through Dang Yeeran’s mind.
“….”
Clang…!
The moment that thought surfaced, the hammer came down upon the clay with force.
Crunch.
With the sound of something shattering, Dang Yeeran released the hammer from her grip.
“Huff…. Huff….”
Only then did she exhale the breath she had been holding. The fatigue she had not noticed while concentrating began to creep in gradually.
“…Haaah….”
Breathing heavily, Dang Yeeran sank down slightly.
Since she had not expended any qi, it was purely physical labor.
Her arms could barely rise.
How many times had she struck?
She wiped the flowing sweat with the back of her hand and cast her gaze upon the work.
What she had been striking was now unrecognizable in form.
What had she been trying to create? What was she trying to make at the beginning?
Even that, she could not recall.
It seemed she had simply swung the hammer.
“….”
Her vision blurred somehow.
Dang Yeeran rubbed her eyes.
Moisture clung to them. It was sweat. Surely it was sweat.
“…Huh….”
She lifted her head, suppressing her trembling breath.
Should I rest a moment? Yes, I’ll rest a little and finish what remains.
As I shifted my gaze with that thought in mind.
“…Huh…?”
Beyond my blurred vision, someone stood before me.
Who is it? I cannot see clearly. All I perceive is a brilliant blue light.
What could be shining so brilliantly ahead?
And how could it possess such a breathtakingly beautiful shade of blue?
Dang Yeeran gazed upon the light and memories of her childhood surfaced.
‘…When was that?’
She had seen this exact light once before.
Though she could not recall precisely when.
It must have been before she turned ten years old.
‘Could she be his granddaughter?’
A massive, rough frame. A towering height that seemed to blot out the sky, and eyes that gazed downward with a fierce intensity.
‘Fortunately, she bears little resemblance to him.’
His grin, split wide across his face, was more than enough to frighten a young girl.
Yet for some reason, Dang Yeeran felt no fear.
‘Oh? Look at this? You’re smiling?’
Perhaps she lacked the maturity of her years.
Or perhaps she simply had no sense of caution.
It was likely both.
Dang Yeeran had extended both her hands as if asking to be held.
The Old Man, seeing this, let out a hollow laugh and lifted her into his arms.
‘She has quite the spirit. She’ll grow strong.’
‘Hehe.’
‘Do you know who you’re being held by?’
‘Hehehehe!!’
She simply laughed, content with being lifted so high.
The Old Man burst into hearty laughter at the sight.
As time passed and she eventually learned the identity of the Old Man who had held her, she was astonished beyond measure.
She had cherished that memory, preserving the light in her heart.
And now, before her eyes, that very same light the Old Man had once carried appeared again.
Dang Yeeran rubbed her eyes and spoke.
“…Elder Geomseong…?”
She uttered the words hesitantly.
Then the shoulders of the figure before her trembled.
After rubbing her eyes for some time, her vision gradually cleared.
The form of the one standing before her came into sharp focus.
It was not an old man.
He was a young man, handsome and youthful.
His expression seemed somewhat gentle, yet he wore a peculiar, awkward smile as he gazed upon Dang Yeeran.
“…Ah….”
Upon confirming his identity, Dang Yeeran let out a gasp of recognition.
She knew who this person was.
“…Bang Disciple.”
“….”
He was the source of rumors spreading quietly throughout the Central Plains.
Not only had he defeated Socheongeom of the Namgung Clan in a single strike.
He was a rising comet who had also eliminated Sanchen Gwiin, one of the masters of the demonic sects.
‘…His successor.’
The Heavenly Supreme who had stopped the Demonic Cult and saved the world.
The successor of Sword Saint Yoo Cheon-gil.
And.
‘My mother’s first love.’
‘s son.
It was an extraordinarily complicated web of relationships.
Recalling this, Dang Yeeran found herself laughing without realizing it.
It was such an absurdly random thought.
“…Why are you suddenly laughing?”
As Dang Yeeran laughed, Bangseong-yeon asked with a puzzled expression.
“Oh, it’s nothing…. I just thought of something funny.”
“You’re laughing at someone’s face?”
“Yes.”
“…How bold of you.”
Bangseong-yeon narrowed his eyes as if exasperated.
It was always striking to witness.
Despite appearing more innocent than anyone else, he wore playful or somewhat pleased expressions without the slightest hesitation.
Moreover, he seemed aware of his own excellence to some degree, remaining unaffected by such remarks.
‘Is this why?’
My mother’s repeated warnings came to mind.
Without doing anything, something felt subtly different about him.
The alienation inherent in his existence. The confusion one feels upon witnessing the unknown.
Bangseong-yeon was a young man who possessed such a quality.
Then, did his father carry that same feeling?
Is that why my mother still cannot forget him?
‘I understand a little now.’
Dang Yeeran thought it was possible.
However, it was merely a thought.
She had no intention of going further, nor did she wish to.
Swish.
Dang Yeeran loosened her tied hair and asked.
“What brings you to this place? It must have been difficult to reach.”
“Ah, I came here because I had some matters to discuss with the Lord of the Clan… but then I heard a sound.”
“A sound?”
What sound could he be referring to?
“That clanging noise, you know. The striking sound.”
“Ah.”
Dang Yeeran nodded in understanding.
“You came here because you heard that?”
It wasn’t just a single clanging sound.
The noise echoed from all directions.
Listen.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
It continued even now, didn’t it?
Yet upon hearing that he came because of the sound, Dang Yeeran expressed doubt.
“That can’t be—”
“The sound was most pleasant to hear from this location.”
Bangseong-yeon continued without any particular expression.
“….”
Hearing that, Dang Yeeran fell silent.
“I was going to pass by ordinarily, but the sound was so pleasant that I simply came to observe.”
“…That… is….”
Her words came out strangely, as if something had malfunctioned.
Dang Yeeran covered her mouth slightly with her hand.
What was that supposed to mean?
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
The noise reached my mind completely.
The monotonous sound strangely resembled the ringing of a bell.
It was as if my body was sending a warning signal. In any case, it resembled a cautionary sound.
But warning of what? What was it warning about?
Dang Yeeran did not know.
“…You found it pleasant to hear?”
Had she understood, she would not have asked further.
“Yes.”
“What specifically…?”
“Specifically…? Do you require a detailed explanation for a statement that something was pleasant to hear?”
“Well, if possible….”
“There was simply something good about it. It seemed like genuine sincerity in the craftsman’s work… and there appeared to be something contained within the sound itself—”
“…Gasp….”
“…Miss Dang?”
At Bangseong-yeon’s words, Dang Yeeran now covered her mouth with both hands.
There seemed to be something contained within those words.
My heart began to race.
“Why are you like this?”
“No… no…”
Clang! Clang!
The sound that had been ringing grew even stronger.
Perhaps it was because these were words I had never heard from anyone, words I had so desperately wanted to hear.
“…Are you alright?”
“Really, truly?”
Dang Yeeran asked Bangseong-yeon with a trembling voice.
“What do you mean…?”
“Did it sound that way? Like something was contained in it?”
“…No… uh… yes, well, yes.”
At Dang Yeeran’s question, Bangseong-yeon stammered out a response.
It seemed as though he was avoiding her gaze.
The way his eyes darted about was telling enough.
Why such a reaction? Normally I would have found it strange, but Dang Yeeran in this moment could not perceive such things.
“I’m surprised by your sincerity. I didn’t realize you would work so diligently.”
Bangseong-yeon gazed at what Dang Yeeran had been creating just moments before.
It was something that had been damaged from a mistaken strike.
Embarrassment washed over her. Dang Yeeran wanted nothing more than to hide it all away.
Then.
“When the time comes later, would you perhaps forge a sword for me as well?”
“…What?”
At Bangseong-yeon’s words, Dang Yeeran froze.
“…A sword…?”
“Ah, if it’s presumptuous or too difficult, you don’t have to do it.”
“No… that’s not it. Why…?”
“What?”
At Dang Yeeran’s question, it was Bangseong-yeon who became flustered instead.
After a brief moment of thought, he spoke to Dang Yeeran.
“Simply because it seems like you would create a fine sword.”
“…”
“Am I wrong?”
Only then did Dang Yeeran understand.
It was those eyes that were the problem.
Those gentle eyes that gazed at her with unwavering intensity.
Eyes that somehow seemed to believe in her.
And that tone of his—casually picking and scratching only the words he desired to hear.
Dang Yeeran noticed the scraping sound no longer reached her ears.
Her mother had said something once.
‘Daughter. Remember this well.’
‘You must never entangle yourself with those who bear the Bang surname.’
Dang Yeeran found it strange that such words surfaced in her mind now.

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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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