The World's Greatest is Dead

The risen moon was unusually brilliant.

Was it blessing my return or something, or was I just imagining that it looked brighter than usual?

Yeah, it’s my imagination. Why the hell would the moon be brighter just because I came back.

Looks like I still wasn’t capable of being pointlessly sentimental.

I’d bothered to look at the moon and have a thought, and it meant nothing.

No—more than that, it wasn’t even a situation where I could be sentimental.

...Goddamn it, what the hell is this Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?

A Dragon-Phoenix Gathering out of nowhere. It was a place I’d assumed I’d never set foot in, precisely because I belonged to the Blue Moon Sect.

And now they’re telling me to go.

As a sect representative, too? It was ridiculous.

And the reason it happened was even worse.

The Divine Spear mentioned me?

Divine Spear Jeok Homyeong.

The current Alliance Leader of the Martial Alliance—and among the absolute masters called Heaven-Beyond-Heaven, one of the only ones still actively operating out in the open.

Supposedly his trademark was a spear longer than his own body.

His martial power isn’t even up for discussion.

He’s the man who became Alliance Leader with Moon-Thread Sword, the current Blue Moon Sect Master, right there in the same era.

After Yoo Cheongil died, in a time when nobody was properly declaring who the strongest under heaven was...

Isn’t he the closest thing to the strongest?

You could call the Divine Spear the closest man alive to being the strongest under heaven.

And it made sense.

The Sword Emperor... disappeared off the map, at least publicly.

The Bow Fiend and the other Heaven-Beyond-Heaven types had vanished from the active world too, which made the Divine Spear stand out even more as the one most visible in the open.

So why the hell would he pick me?

That the Divine Spear went out of his way to point at me and call me to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was something I couldn’t understand.

I frowned up at empty air.

“What kind of person is the Divine Spear?”

I asked the one who might know best—Yoo Cheongil, drifting around in the air.

[Huh? The Divine Spear?]

“Yes.”

Same era, same war—if anyone knew, it’d be Yoo Cheongil.

He paused, thinking seriously.

[He’s a lunatic.]

“...Excuse me?”

That was a pretty insane answer.

“A lunatic?”

[Yeah. A lunatic. That bastard was a lunatic.]

“More than you, old man?”

[Yeah. That level of lunatic—wait. What the hell is that supposed to mean?]

“Ah, shit.”

I slipped.

Yoo Cheongil’s brow crumpled hard.

That was what I got for letting my inside thoughts leak out.

“...That just came out on its own...”

[...At least put some effort into lying with a straight face. You weren’t even trying to hold it back.]

“Ah, shit!”

[Enough.]

“Yes, sir.”

[...Anyway, the Divine Spear is a lunatic.]

“How is he a lunatic?”

[First off, he’s a lunatic about fighting.]

“Fighting?”

Fighting, huh...?

That applies to you too, doesn’t it?

Earlier had been half a joke, but at this point I couldn’t even tell who had the right to call who crazy.

[Fix your face.]

“Ahem...”

[Enjoying it and being crazy are different. He’s genuinely crazy.]

“......” 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Now I was actually curious. What kind of man makes even Yoo Cheongil call him a lunatic?

[So when I heard he’d become Alliance Leader, I was pretty shocked. With his temperament, he wasn’t the kind of guy to accept a hat like that. How the hell did it end up that way?]

“Temperament...?”

[He was a nasty piece of work. Quiet. If it wasn’t a fight, he didn’t care. And he couldn’t even understand the concept of getting along with people at all...]

“......”

So, a lonely bastard.

Or someone with negative social skills.

[And once he snapped, he’d charge in without looking back. It was a pain in the ass to stop him.]

“Sounds dangerous.”

[It was. He ignored me so damn badly I ended up gouging out his left eye.]

“...What?”

Hold on. What did you just say?

“...You gouged out his left eye?”

Did I hear that wrong? Something I wasn’t supposed to hear just went through my ears.

[Huh? What?]

“...You just said you did something to his left eye.”

[Ohhh—that?]

Yoo Cheongil waved a hand like it was nothing.

[He kept running his mouth and picking fights over nothing, so I got pissed and beat him up a bit.]

“You call gouging out his eye ‘beating him up a bit’?”

[Hey, he was the one being annoying first.]

“Most people don’t gouge out someone’s eye because they’re annoying... So why did you do it?”

I asked because maybe—maybe—there was a reason that would at least make it make some sense.

But then—

[Ah. His fiancée started chasing me around because she liked me.]

“...What?”

[She wouldn’t stop following me, so I played along once. And when the Divine Spear found out, he came charging in.]

“...You—”

[Did I say I wanted her? He kept picking at me about it, so I gave him a little lesson. Keh heh heh.]

“......”

The further this went, the less I had to say.

What am I even supposed to call this?

So...

The Divine Spear’s fiancée chased Yoo Cheongil...

And Yoo Cheongil happily accepted her.

Then the Divine Spear found out late and fought Yoo Cheongil?

And Yoo Cheongil stomped him—and gouged out his left eye while he was at it.

Wow.

In other words—

That’s a blood feud.

That also meant they absolutely weren’t on good terms.

My fingertips tingled. My right arm, which felt like it had finally healed, was tingling again for no reason.

With that tingling hand, I raked my hair back and asked Yoo Cheongil,

“...Hey, old man.”

[Speak.]

“Then the Divine Spear calling me over can’t be a good thing, right?”

[Huh? Why not?]

“...From his point of view, he called the disciple of the bastard who stole his fiancée and took his eye. There’s no way he called me for a good reason.”

[...Hmm.]

Yoo Cheongil actually stopped to think.

And then—

[OH!]

“Oh, FUCK OFF.”

He clapped his hands over a tiny burst of realization.

...I’m going to lose my mind.

Ah. This is—

It felt like I was, just a little—no, a lot—completely screwed.

*****

I shoved the nasty feeling to the back of my mind and kept walking.

The moon was still up. Time-wise, it had to be a little past one in the morning.

SPLAT.

I moved down a damp corridor without even trying to hide my pinched brow.

Yoo Cheongil followed alongside me, looking sulky, and spoke.

[Come on. Fix your face. A guy with a dick shouldn’t be so petty.]

GRIT.

I twisted my face and answered.

“Whose fault do you think this is?”

[If we’re assigning blame, isn’t the guy who picked the fight first at fault?]

“No, even if you ‘played along,’ why the hell would you bite into a woman who already belongs to someone? I’d be pissed too.”

[I didn’t know she belonged to anyone, you brat. And if a woman comes saying she likes you, accepting her is what makes you a man.]

“So you’re saying every man in the world is a piece of shit?”

[It was ages ago. He’s not some petty bastard like you, so he’s probably forgotten it already.]

“...Forgotten?”

If it were me, I’d never forget.

“If it were you, old man—would you forget?”

[I would.]

“Huh?”

[The guy who did that to me would’ve died by my hand a long time ago. Why would I bother remembering?]

“......”

It was a terrifyingly convenient way to think.

“Then what if the other guy was too strong, so you couldn’t kill him?”

[Then you fight until you can kill him.]

“And what if you still never killed him, and he vanished—and then his disciple shows up out of nowhere?”

[Then you go, ‘Oh, perfect,’ and you play with him—oh?]

“Goddamn it.”

I wanted to sandpaper that smug little face right off him.

“...My blood pressure.”

I was dizzy. What the hell am I supposed to do with this useless old man?

Groaning, I bent my thumb and pressed it into my temple.

SPLAT.

Even so, I didn’t stop walking.

The corridor was still narrow and dark and uncomfortable, but with Moon Eyes, the darkness wasn’t scary.

Right now, Yoo Cheongil and I were inside his snack stash—no, the Blue Moon Storehouse.

I was here to collect what I was owed from Sichuan.

The Blue Moon Sect’s third space.

According to the Poison Sovereign, the Blue Moon Storehouse had another hidden space.

When I asked Yoo Cheongil about it—

Damn it. That Poison Sovereign bastard said something unnecessary.

He reacted like someone had exposed something he was hiding.

Was he planning to keep it hidden forever? Honestly, I didn’t care.

The reward I’d earned by fulfilling his request back in Sichuan was tied to it.

The third space in the Blue Moon Storehouse.

Yoo Cheongil said he’d give me the gold and silver treasures he had stored there.

When I asked if it was actually money because I didn’t trust him, he said it was definitely something I’d like.

I still don’t believe him for shit.

But nothing he’d # Nоvеlight # given me so far had been useless either, so part of me came in here willing to get scammed.

...If it’s really trash, I swear to god.

I was already stressed because of the Divine Spear. If what I got here was trash too, I wasn’t going to let it slide.

CLACK.

I opened the door ahead and stepped inside.

A familiar space. I’d been here once already.

Still closed.

The inner storeroom was shut, just like last time.

[Up to the second one, enter the same way.]

Yoo Cheongil spoke the moment we arrived.

I drew my sword.

SHHHNK.

With a sharp sound, the Divine Sword showed itself.

Jet-black iron drank the darkness and looked even darker.

The light in my Moon Eyes trembled.

I scanned the wall and confirmed the spot.

Then I twisted my waist.

First Form: Moon Wave.

SLASH—!

GRRRRRK—!

CLANK—!

The moment my sword qi scraped the wall, the mechanism triggered and the wall opened.

Same as last time.

I went in through the opened passage.

The second space.

“...How many of these hidden spaces are there?”

[Hm... how many was it... one, two... ah. There are five.]

“...Five?”

Five hidden rooms?

“What the hell are you hiding that you made so many...?”

[Handsome men are supposed to have many secrets—]

“...How do I get to the next room?”

He was about to start running his mouth, so I dragged him back to the point.

[Tsk.]

Yoo Cheongil clicked his tongue like he didn’t like my reaction.

Then he smirked.

[Find it yourself.]

Ah, for fuck’s sake.

“Here we go again.”

Why can’t he just tell me once and be done with it?

That prankster face was genuinely disgusting.

[If I just tell you, it’s not fun.]

“What fun is there to be had here? If you’re giving it to me anyway, just give it.”

[Sure, I said I’d give it. I never said I’d tell you how to get there.]

“Wow. Petty.”

[...What did you say, punk?]

Find the way to the third room.

Just like last time.

He acts like it’s a joke, but—

He’s obviously testing me.

It wasn’t a simple prank. There was a clear intention to check something in me.

And he wasn’t even hiding it.

Tsk.

I clicked my tongue. Still—

The next method, huh...

He was doing it again. And when Yoo Cheongil said something like this—

He’s telling me because I can do it.

Whatever it was, he was ordering me because it was something I could solve.

This time was no different.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

To think.

He’d been deliberately hiding the storehouse spaces.

If there were multiple hidden rooms, the fact he never mentioned them didn’t mean he didn’t want to give them to me.

Then there’s only one reason.

Because I couldn’t open them yet.

Even if I knew where they were, if I couldn’t reach them, hiding them made sense.

So what about now?

Back then that was true, but now he’d brought up the third space.

Why?

It was obvious.

Back then I couldn’t.

But now I could.

Which meant—

What changed after going to Sichuan?

If you wanted to count, there were a lot of changes, but the big ones were two.

One: I’d reached the pinnacle.

Two—

This.

SHHHHHHH—!!

Energy spread out from my dantian.

The power of the Blue Moon Heart Art climbed my meridians and sank into my skin.

It shimmered up my shoulders.

Beautiful, glowing energy.

I controlled it, and this time, poured it into my sword.

Then—

WHOOOOOSH—!!!

[Hahaha!]

Along with Yoo Cheongil’s laughter, the third power of the Blue Moon Sword Dance—

Third Form: Radiant Moon Annihilation-Overturn.

Sword force bloomed.

“...Haaa...”

I steadied my breathing and opened my eyes.

Radiant Moon Annihilation-Overturn was sword force that gave off light.

So in the black darkness, light burst out and brightened the area.

It was different from seeing through Moon Eyes.

As the space lit up, I looked around—

“...There it is.”

I moved toward one wall.

I brought the Divine Sword up like a lantern, sword force still blazing.

Only then did it show clearly.

A long, vertical line—something I couldn’t see before.

I took my stance.

The sword lifted toward the air.

The sword force trembled, leaving a trail—

And the instant that trail stopped—

I put strength into it.

Blue Moon Sword Dance.

Second Form: Night Moon.

I cut down the night.

The sword moved along the line, sword force riding the blade—

And in that moment—

KA-CHUNK—!

RRRRRRATTLE—!!!

Somewhere, a mechanism moved.

I turned at the sound.

A new door had appeared right behind me.

[HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU INSANE BASTARD!!]

Yoo Cheongil laughed wildly at the sight.

...Is that praise or an insult?

I couldn’t tell.