The World's Greatest is Dead

Four more days passed at the Tang Clan.

It had been six days since we arrived, and in that time we’d spent our days peacefully, with no particular schedule.

If they gave us a meal, we ate.

When it was time to train, we trained.

When it was time to sleep, we slept.

“Wow.”

A sigh of admiration slipped out. How could anyone spend time this decadently.

Sloth beyond compare—nothing could be happier.

Yeah, this is life.

“I’ve been living too busy until now.”

Barely six days.

I’d enjoyed leisure for six days and I was this happy.

My eyes were about to blur with tears.

“Young Master Bang. Are you all right?”

Cheon Eujin, beside me, asked.

He was soaked in sweat. He’d just finished his training.

“...Ah, yes. Of course. I’m fine, more than fine.”

Not just fine. I was downright delighted.

Tap, tap. I shook off the sword I was holding and slid it back at my waist.

At the same time, I unstrapped the sandbags tied to my hands and feet.

“Whew...”

Cheon Eujin was drenched, but so was I.

My limbs all ached.

The throbbing was intense.

“This one’s a bit rough.”

The weight was no joke. It had been added recently.

The old man had glanced at me training and told me to put them on.

It’s a pretty brute method, but he told me to, so I did.

With me doing it, Cheon Eujin started doing it at my side as well.

By now, the two of us would train with them until we were too exhausted to get up.

On this, Cheon Eujin had asked—worn out—why bother with this method when a martial artist manipulates the body with inner energy centered in the dantian anyway.

Hearing that, Yoo Cheongil answered curtly.

[If the channels aren’t straight, how will the water flow true?]

It sounded like he meant the body is the channel and the energy is the water.

I relayed that word-for-word to Cheon Eujin, and he widened his eyes like he’d had a great awakening.

What, why are you the only one awakening...?

I was dumbfounded.

“Anyway.”

Training was murderous with the added weight.

Even so, I thought it wasn’t bad.

“I prefer simple over complicated.”

Rather than thinking this and that, just doing what I’m told.

That was easier for me.

“I have been grinding a bit lately.”

I’d been living beyond my station, in excess. Most of it forced on me, which made it harder.

Maybe thanks to the brief taste of rest, I felt considerably at ease.

I washed my sweat-soaked body and stepped outside.

The day looked unusually clear, and nothing grated on my nerves.

Especially since the old man who’s always noisy kept wandering off somewhere lately—

These past few days were perfect for quiet.

“Almost mealtime?”

Just thinking about it lifted my mood.

I hadn’t known, but the food they served at the Tang Clan was far tastier than I’d expected.

I wondered if Sichuan food wouldn’t suit me, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.

Especially since this is a place that uses poison, at first I was tense, but...

“...They take care with that part, too.”

The Tang Clan seemed aware of this; through the servants they would show whether a dish had poison or not.

If I’d demanded it, it might have seemed discourteous, but they handled it on their own—so this is why they call it a great clan, I thought.

Only—

If anything nagged me in this comfort, it was someone who showed up now and then around my quarters.

“...You’re here again today.”

I sighed as I looked at someone by the wall.

“Why is she like that.”

It hadn’t been from the first day; it had been about three days since I first saw her.

She thought she was hiding, but she was conspicuously visible—a woman.

It was Lady Pi, mistress of the Tang household.

Honestly, she hid well at first.

If Yoo Cheongil hadn’t told me she was there, I wouldn’t have known, but once I knew, I saw her easily.

“...What is this.”

Why was she coming to find me like that?

Should I at least acknowledge her? I gave it some hard thought, but—

“Ignore her.”

I decided to ignore it. My instincts said acknowledging her would be bad.

She wasn’t even getting in the way. She watched me from a good distance and didn’t seem to do anything.

So I made a point of ignoring her.

“...How long, though?”

How long did I have to ignore it? That part puzzled me a bit.

Someday, I should ask.

“But not today.”

Not on a day this pleasant.

Thinking that, I was about to go back into my quarters—

“May I enter.”

A voice came from the entry.

I turned my head at that.

Mealtime?

It was about that time.

I walked over with a flutter of anticipation—

“...”

And had to stop when I saw who stood in front of my quarters.

It wasn’t the servant who normally brought my meals.

It wasn’t that kind of person at all.

“Young Clan Head Tang...”

It was Poison Tiger, the Tang Clan’s current Young Clan Head.

I frowned at him.

“Have you been well.”

He smiled at me. As always, the Tang folk had harsh features.

If Tang Yeran was the gentlest of them, Poison Dragon looked frightening, and Poison Tiger was a sharply handsome man.

“...Yes.”

“My apologies for calling on you unannounced. The reason is...”

I couldn’t hide the sour look as I faced Poison Tiger.

You might wonder how I could show that face to the Young Clan Head.

But I knew.

“...If he’s come to me personally—”

It meant there was business.

In other words—

“The Clan Head says the preparations are complete, and asks that you come.”

—my lazily enjoyed peace had ended.

****

I walked, following the Young Clan Head’s lead.

In the end I didn’t get to eat, but my appetite had already vanished long ago.

I kept my pace even, pretending to be calm. We were headed not to the Clan Head’s quarters, but to Iron River deeper inside.

“...Mm.”

The moment we entered, the heat rolled out, same as before.

Hot enough to choke, but I had a sense of it from last time; I could endure it better.

Kang—! Kang—! Kangkang—!

I pushed through the heat, enduring the ear-splitting sound, moving forward.

After a short walk, I saw the iron door I’d seen before.

As soon as we reached it, Poison Tiger reached out and opened it.

Screeeeeee—!!

The heavy iron door was forced open, grinding out a rough sound.

The instant the gap widened, cold air blasted out, the opposite of the heat.

It was that same chill from last time.

After he’d opened the door fully, Poison Tiger kept his hand on the handle and spoke to me.

“I’ll leave them in your care.”

He bowed his head as he said it. For the Young Clan Head to do that—it was a lot of pressure.

I forced a sheepish smile and stepped through the iron door.

Inside, Poison King Tang Gyeongak and Iron River Chief Tang Jicheol were already there, the latter doing something with a hissing boil—

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh—!

From ice just shy of freezing solid, he slowly drew out something long.

My eyes widened at the sight.

“That...”

I wondered what it was, then saw more clearly—it was something I knew.

Ordinarily it wouldn’t have that shape.

Which is why it took me a moment to recognize it.

But—

“...Full Moon.”

What Tang Jicheol was drawing out long was unmistakably Full Moon.

Not the rusted, half-broken great saber remnant—

A clean, keen blade.

In an instant I knew this was its original form.

Just looking at it made my fingertips tremble.

All Tang Jicheol did was hold the sword, and still—

A man easily past seventy, his muscles let out a growl.

Just from gripping the sword, his muscles visibly swelled. Proof that Full Moon’s weight was anything but light.

“Fuuuu...”

Tang Jicheol, examining the sword, let out a low breath.

And—

Poison King leaned against the wall and watched calmly.

“It’s ready.”

When Tang Jicheol murmured that, Poison King finally opened the mouth he’d kept shut.

“...You’ve worked hard.”

“Hard, nothing.”

Tang Jicheol gave a short laugh.

Then he set Full Moon on the table.

For some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

Why? It was just a sword, but my heart pounded.

“...What is this?”

What was I feeling? I cautiously rubbed my chest with a hand.

I could feel my heartbeat unusually fierce.

My body was excited.

To go further—if not the body, then the soul.

Or the dantian itself felt roused.

Hard to explain, but I was clearly feeling something from Full Moon.

Then—

“You’ll bore a hole in it at that rate.”

Tang Jicheol’s words brought me back.

“Is your master’s sword that fascinating.”

“...Yes, a bit.”

I pulled my gaze away.

“So that was its original form...”

A blade that clean.

Staring, half in wonder, I asked:

“...Is the repair finished?”

I could’ve sworn I’d heard it would take ten days—was it already done?

Tang Jicheol answered my question.

“Sadly, no.”

“No?”

“Yes, this is only a temporary measure.”

“What does that mean...?”

A temporary measure? I wondered what he meant—

“The repair isn’t finished. We merely restored the shape.”

“Just the shape?”

Not a repair, merely restoring the shape? So they hadn’t used cold iron to fix it?

Why on earth?

Unable to grasp it, I looked to Poison King; he spoke as he met my eyes.

“It was necessary to open the archive.”

He meant the Poison Sovereign’s secret archive.

“...Full Moon, you mean.”

“Yes. Thus, the first condition is complete, and that is why you were called, Young Hero Bang.”

Not to repair Full Moon—but to restore its form, as a first step.

And that was why they’d summoned me here?

Which meant—

“You’re going to give me an answer to our prior discussion.”

“....”

Poison King paused. The “prior discussion” was about the terms we’d exchanged. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

I would help open the archive, and in return I wished to obtain a few things.

We had gone back and forth on it.

In the end Poison King had said he would give a firm answer next time we met—apparently that was today.

What answer would he give?

As I watched with a twinge of anticipation—

“...We accept your terms.”

Poison King spoke, a faint sigh in his breath.

“I thank the Clan Head for his consideration.”

I answered with a wash of relief.

In that case—

“Then I may assume you’ll accept help when you judge it needed?”

“I don’t know what you’ll need me to do... but if the terms are kept, I’ll do my best.”

It’s not like it’ll kill me.

And I’d ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) included conditions specifically so it wouldn’t go that far—so it should be fine to a degree.

“....”

Poison King watched me a moment, then nodded as before.

“...Understood. Today I called you to show Full Moon’s state and to deliver this message. As for the archive—”

He raised two fingers.

“We will proceed in two days.”

I nodded carefully at that.

It didn’t seem we had much time.

I finished with Poison King and stepped back out through the iron door.

The two still had more to do, so they wouldn’t be coming out.

Poison Tiger was nowhere to be seen either.

I didn’t particularly need an escort, so it didn’t matter.

The cold fled and the heat returned.

The stifling air still coiled in my throat, but I ignored it and walked toward the outside.

Right now the heat bothered me less than the thoughts crowding my head.

“The Poison Sovereign’s secret archive...”

I had agreed to help under conditions, but what exactly would I be helping with?

I’d arranged a method of my own, but the worry was the same.

“The old man said it was nothing and to just do it.”

Half of what that guy says is nonsense; I can’t believe it all.

“Tsk.”

Would I end up in trouble over this?

With that worry circling, I was wondering what to do when—

Kang—!

“...”

A sound brushed my ear. Familiar. The one I always heard when I came to Iron River.

But—

Kkaang—!

“...Hm?”

It was the same sound, and somehow different.

Kkaaaang—!

My shoulders flinched with every strike.

At the same time, something in my core reacted.

“This...”

It was a sensation I’d felt somewhere before.

I’d felt it just now, so there was no mistaking it.

“...It’s like when I looked at Full Moon.”

When I’d seen Full Moon with only its form restored—

It was similar to that.

Not the body, but the soul reacting.

That was exactly how it felt now.

“What is it?”

Why was I reacting to a sound on its own?

Kang—! Kangkang!

Kkaang—!

The noisy din of hammering—among them, the smallest of the sounds.

Even so, my soul reacted.

“...”

My toes turned. My body veered on its own toward the sound.

My steps quickened. The heat was hot enough to turn my stomach, but I ignored that too.

Kang—!

Only the sound.

Kkaang—!

I focused only on the noise that grew louder as I drew near.

And then—

Kang—!

I arrived at a door from which the sound was coming.

Smaller than the iron door where Tang Jicheol had been, and somewhat rusted.

KKAANG!

The sound was coming from here.

As if under a spell, I reached out.

Creak.

I grabbed the handle and pulled.

Creeeak.

It resisted, but I forced it and the door opened.

I peered through the half-open gap.

Heat wrapped my face.

It was thicker than outside.

Why was it this hot? If I stood still I’d feel myself cooking.

A temperature no one should be able to endure.

Inside—

Kang—! Kang—! Kangkang!

Tang Yeran, hair tied tight, was sweating as she swung a hammer the size of her face and brought it down with all her strength.

And behind her—

“...Poison Sovereign?”

A ghost I took to be the Poison Sovereign was quietly watching Tang Yeran.

With a gaze that was unbearably stifled—and desolate.