The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 98

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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 098
What did you just say?
At Palduyeok’s words, my mind goes blank for a moment. The killing intent that had been pouring down, the situation itself—all of it slips away as my thoughts freeze.
While I stand there, Palduyeok looks at me and lets out a low chuckle.
“Ah, I see. You wouldn’t know, would you?”
“…What do you mean?”
“What do I mean? It concerns the final moments of your so-called great Sword Saint.”
“…”
“The world says that monster died of chronic illness. Do you truly believe that?”
“…”
No—I know directly because I heard it myself. The old monster told me in person, so how could I not know?
But.
‘This shouldn’t be heard here.’
The situation was the problem.
That this man would mention such an incident.
Above all.
“…What did you say?”
“What did you just say?”
The real problem was those two—they heard it even though I didn’t want them to.
Kuuuuuuu—!!
Something pierces through Palduyeok’s killing intent.
It was inner energy.
The inner energy radiating from Cheon Euijin and Do-hyeong.
It was breaking through Palduyeok’s killing intent.
“Ho.”
Palduyeok’s eyes gleam with interest as he regards the two of them.
“Not bad momentum.”
His smile is quite fierce.
While he focuses on the two, I lift my gaze toward the empty sky.
Toward Yoo Cheon-gil.
He floats in the heavens, quietly observing this place.
I wondered what reaction Yoo Cheon-gil would show upon hearing that someone had dealt with him.
Yet he shows no reaction—merely watching.
More precisely.
‘He’s looking at me.’
He watches only me, indifferent to Palduyeok.
Seeing that attitude, I furrow my brow.
‘That old man.’
How could he react like this after hearing about his own death?
I cannot comprehend it. Yes, there was a time I understood.
There is only one thing I can discern now.
‘Did that Old Man know about this situation?’
From his reaction alone, I cannot help but see that he had this in mind.
Then.
‘Why?’
Why did he not tell me, knowing what he knew? I had to contemplate this.
‘Why indeed.’
What was the reason? Why did Yoo Cheon-gil make such a choice? I racked my brain to understand it.
I had to find out.
‘Where did the problem begin?’
If something went wrong, where exactly did it start?
‘Remember.’
Yoo Cheon-gil stopped me when I tried to tell Dokuou about the anomaly I sensed from the mechanism master and formation expert.
That meant he had anticipated this from that moment.
Then.
‘What those bastards were trying to do to Dokuou, and moreover.’
He must have anticipated that they would attack like this.
So why did he leave Dokuou to such a fate, knowing all this?
‘Did he want me dead?’
It’s possible. If that Demon is who I think she is, there’s a chance, but.
‘No. It’s not that.’
There must be some other reason beyond simply wanting to kill me.
Yoo Cheon-gil does not wish for my death.
If he did, he would not have employed such methods.
Moreover, judging from the situation so far, Yoo Cheon-gil has been helping me gain something.
Even when he created crises and turned situations into chaos, the outcome of each crisis has always been my acquisition of something.
Will this time be different?
No, it will not be.
Then.
‘What does he want me to gain?’
What is he trying to make me obtain by deliberately observing this mess?
I turned my thoughts over and over.
What are those beings, and what is the conclusion Yoo Cheon-gil desires through them?
My mind raced faster and faster.
‘Bigo. Intruders. Traitors. Dokuou’s situation. What they are after.’
And.
‘What Yoo Cheon-gil is after through all this.’
I strung the words together like beads on thin thread.
Weaving and reweaving, the long chain of words connected and reached the end.
Not long after, I arrived at the conclusion.
“…Ha…!”
A gasp escaped me at the thought that surfaced.
Immediately, I looked at Yoo Cheon-gil as if glaring at him.
‘Surely not.’
I harbored a faint hope, wishing it weren’t true, yet everything pointed to this being correct.
Our eyes meet.
Yoo Cheon-gil notices my gaze and his lips twitch upward.
[You’ve figured it out.]
At his words, I narrowed my eyes.
Then.
[No, that’s not it. You didn’t figure it out.]
Yoo Cheon-gil corrects himself.
[You already knew this truth all along, didn’t you? Perhaps you understood the moment you saw it.]
“….”
Yoo Cheon-gil speaks to me with a laugh, as if piercing my lungs.
[Don’t pretend to be shocked. There’s no way you didn’t know.]
His words seep like mist, settling densely around us.
[When I told you not to speak earlier. Didn’t you sense it vaguely then?]
When the Dang Clan members were about to attempt something.
He references that moment. Didn’t you catch on from then?
That.
‘How could I have known.’
I wanted to say, but my lips wouldn’t move.
Unable to talk back to Yoo Cheon-gil? No, that wasn’t it.
‘…He’s perceptive, damn him.’
Because that old man’s words were infuriatingly half-correct.
Certainly. When the signs of the situation began to unfold, I had anticipated it to some degree.
Only.
‘I merely thought it was unlikely.’
Surely it wouldn’t be that.
No matter how mad that old man is, surely he wouldn’t go that far. That’s what I had been thinking.
‘I underestimated him far too much.’
I had misjudged that old man.
‘He’s been insane for far longer than I thought.’
I had grossly underestimated him.
‘Sigh.’
I exhale slowly. Partly to steady my breathing, partly to cool the heat rising in my mind.
Just as I barely regained composure.
“Now, how dare you—insult me like this—!”
“If I may ask first.”
I cut off Cheon Euijin before he could speak to Palduyeok in anger. Then I said,
“Senior, are you saying that Pacheongung is connected to the Sword Saint’s death?”
“Yes, you catch on quickly….”
Palduyeok’s mouth closed mid-sentence.
In that instant.
후우우우우우—!!!
An enormous pressure erupted from Palduyeok.
It was far more vicious and rough than what I’d felt before.
My breath caught and my shoulders trembled involuntarily. If I let my guard down, my mind would scatter with it. Feeling this, I forcibly gripped my consciousness.
“…What is this?”
The killing intent was like that of a starving beast.
“You. What are you.”
The moment I let my guard slip, he would bare his fangs and tear out my throat.
“Those words never came from my mouth, did they?”
A mention of Pacheongung.
Upon hearing it, Palduyeok’s atmosphere shifted drastically.
I stared into his eyes. Just looking at them made my legs go numb.
Is this the true killing intent of a master? It was incomparable to what Sanchen Gwiin had emanated.
But.
‘…For now.’
It’s bearable. Perhaps because my realm had risen to the first class. For now, I could endure it.
So I endured.
Bearing the pressure, I spoke to Palduyeok.
“On the way to the Dang Clan, I encountered some men. They called themselves Pacheongung.”
“…What?”
At my words, Palduyeok let out a hollow laugh.
“Nonsense. They couldn’t have said that.”
His tone carried near certainty.
Was it a misunderstanding? I felt his words not as “couldn’t have said” but rather “shouldn’t be able to say.”
“Well, regardless, that’s what I heard.”
It wasn’t a lie.
I simply heard it from the dead, not the living.
Upon mentioning that, Palduyeok fell silent for a moment, then.
“…Yes, it was you all.”
Soon after, he spoke with a growling tone.
It seemed those men did know what we had done.
“So? What does that have to do with your prediction?”
“What do you mean, what does it have to do with it.”
It couldn’t possibly be unrelated.
“Suspicious men searching for something near Sichuan, spies hiding within the Dang Clan, and the current situation—there are far too many threads leading to a conclusion.”
“…Ha, sophistry. Even so, there is nowhere to find certainty.”
A fair point. This was merely speculation, and ultimately nothing could reach the realm of certainty.
That was why.
“So I tested it. You didn’t reveal the answer to me, Senior?”
“…!”
Since speculation yielded no answer, I brazenly tested him—and wasn’t he responsive as a ghost to my probe?
“…You bastard….”
At my response, the veins in Palduyeok’s brow tensed visibly.
“…You dare test me?”
“Indeed. I thought you looked too serious to be tested, but it seems testing you works just fine.”
Kekekek.
His aura intensified. Under the pressure, one corner of my eye twitched involuntarily.
“Your tongue weaves deception most exquisitely.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“…Should I extract that tongue of yours before you’ll close your mouth?”
Palduyeok smiled wickedly and reached out his hand. Seeing this, I spoke.
“Since I’ve already spoken, shall I say one more thing?”
At my words, Palduyeok’s hand paused. His eyes blazed with fervor, yet within his gaze lay an unmistakable invitation—go ahead and try.
So I spoke.
“You didn’t come here to find me.”
Pacheongung is me. Therefore, the successor of the Sword Saint is not your objective.
Though I appear to be your target in this moment, I knew otherwise.
“You came here searching for something else entirely…. This current action is merely incidental. Isn’t that so?”
“….”
“Then what is it? What exactly are you searching for? What does the Dang Clan intend to accomplish?”
Thud.
I stepped closer to Palduyeok, piercing through the killing intent.
Every instinct screamed at me to flee. The murderous aura he exuded certainly made me feel that way.
Yet I did not flee. I had something to confirm with him.
Looking into his eyes, I spoke.
“Shall I guess that as well?”
The moment those words left my lips.
Kiiiiik—!!! Kwaaaaaaaa——!!!
A violent gust erupted.
Palduyeok moved his arms, unleashing a brutal assault.
I was swept away. My body staggered.
What is this? What did he just do?
‘With a human body, how could….’
The power he displayed was grotesquely bizarre for a man to wield.
I glanced around, assessing the surroundings.
The impact just now was no illusion—the floor bore rough marks to prove it.
As I stared at those traces quietly,
I’m just watching that happen.
“…That young man truly knows no fear.”
Palduyeok’s voice reached me from a distance.
The Palduyeok who had stood before me was now positioned slightly further away.
A spear in his hands—when he had drawn it, I couldn’t say.
“Your antics are amusing enough that I’ve been letting them slide. But truly… how far do you think they can take you?”
Palduyeok spoke to me with a savage smile.
“Let’s see what you’re made of.”
“….”
The moment Palduyeok finished speaking,
the martial artists surrounding us moved as if they had been waiting for this signal.
Their numbers were no small matter, as I had counted before. As they drew their blades and advanced,
“Kugh!”
“….”
Cheon Euijin and Do-hyeong drew their swords and positioned themselves in front of me.
And then,
Dang Yeeran stepped forward alongside them.
I could see her small shoulders trembling.
Wait, why are they all blocking my path…?
I glanced at my companions with a hint of bewilderment.
The two men I could understand. But Dang Yeeran—what was she doing?
I was momentarily startled that even she had moved to shield me.
Wondering what this meant, I turned my gaze forward.
Enemies advancing with drawn blades.
Beyond them, I looked at Palduyeok.
The killing intent from moments before had vanished; his face now bore an expression of displeasure as he regarded me.
Seeing that, I became certain of something else.
‘That man.’
Palduyeok
‘cannot kill me.’
It seemed he couldn’t even lay a hand on 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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