The World's Greatest is Dead

First, let’s hear him out.

I decided that the moment I heard what the Heavenly Demon said. What was this about?

The secret manual really exists?

The secret manual left by the Sword Saint. Something Yoo Cheongil had supposedly left behind actually existed.

If even the Heavenly Demon knew about it, then that meant it was real.

Why does it exist?

It was absurd. Why was that in the Demonic Cult? And in the Young Cult Leader’s hands, of all people?

“You seem rather interested.”

“It would be harder not to be. What kind of secret manual is it? Does it really exist?”

“I would not have mentioned it if it were a lie.”

“That’s not something I can know. Do you have a way to prove it?”

I needed to confirm it, just in case. The Young Cult Leader gave a small laugh when he heard me.

“You are as thorough as ever.”

“It’s not as if we trust each other deeply.”

“True. That sort of attitude suits us.”

The Young Cult Leader smiled and nodded. There was no trust between us. The fact that we were sitting here like this was funny in itself.

“Proof, is it...? I can give you proof. I brought something with me.”

“You brought something?”

“One page. Proof that anyone would recognize as belonging to a secret manual. That should be enough to convince even you.”

The Young Cult Leader slid something toward me.

It really was a single page from a book.

I accepted it and read.

[Never thought I’d end up writing something like this, but there isn’t a damn bastard to pass it on to, so I’ll put it down once.]

“......”

I did not think I needed to read any further.

No matter who looked at it, that was the old man’s way of talking. Insane. Why the hell had he written something like this?

It really is a secret manual?

[Ha ha.]

The Heavenly Demon laughed.

[That is correct. That is the one.]

Even this man spoke as if the answer was obvious. What was this?

If it really is a secret manual...

Why had he put it in the Demonic Cult? I could not understand it, so I asked.

[It was a wager.]

A completely ridiculous answer came back.

A wager?

The Sword Saint and the Heavenly Demon made a wager?

This is driving me insane.

What kind of situation was this?

Is that really a secret manual?

[It is. It should be the book where that bastard wrote down the ultimate art he thought of at the very end.]

Damn it. So it really is a secret manual.

He was even talking about a final ultimate art.

It was absurd, but for now, I held it in. Whatever the case, it meant the secret manual was real.

“So. What is the request?”

“Are you going to grant it?”

“I said I’d decide after hearing it.”

“Oh? Even after hearing that the secret manual exists, you can still say that?”

“Sorry, but.”

I answered with a smile.

“That secret manual isn’t urgent for me.”

It absolutely was not urgent.

There was a high chance I would not be able to use it anyway.

If it were something I could use, Yoo Cheongil would have tried to teach it to me long ago.

“So talk. If it comes down to it, I’ll try to grant it. I’m technically in the position of his disciple too.”

“Good... Very well.”

The Little Heavenly Demon’s red eyes flashed as he spoke to me.

“It is nothing else. There is one person I want you to meet in Xinjiang.”

“Meet? Me, after going to the Demonic Cult?”

“No. Not the Demonic Cult. Xinjiang.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“Do you think all of Xinjiang is the Demonic Cult?”

Uh, it isn’t? I thought it was.

[The Demonic Cult is only one area. Xinjiang is a region. It would be strange to call that entire vast land the Demonic Cult, would it not?]

How would I know? I had next to no information about the place.

But in that Xinjiang—

“What do you mean, there’s someone I have to meet?”

No matter how I heard it, it sounded strange. It could be a trap. Was he saying I had to accept this?

“The choice is yours.”

“What kind of remarkable person are we talking about?”

“It should not be entirely a loss for you either. Because...”

The Young Cult Leader swallowed a brief murmur before speaking to me.

“He is a member of the Azure Moon Sect.”

“...Hm?”

The Azure Moon Sect?

A member of the Azure Moon Sect was in Xinjiang? What kind of amusing story was this?

“Who?”

“Your master’s master.”

“...What?”

The Sword Saint’s master?

Yoo Cheongil had someone like that? But—

“He’s alive?”

Could someone like that still be alive? Did that even make sense?

“It is not so strange. Heavenly Fist is still alive too, after all.”

“......”

I narrowed my eyes.

This bastard.

“You’re telling an interesting story.”

I had not expected him to mention Heavenly Fist. At that unexpected name, I gave him a flat look. The Young Cult Leader grinned.

“I said it to show that I know things as well. I would like you to be grateful.”

“Sure. I’m a little grateful for this one.”

I had let my guard down for a moment, but my head cleared at once. Right. This bastard’s information network was not small either.

And the fact that he had chosen Heavenly Fist, of all people, to mention—

“Is that a warning?”

“No. I will say this first, but I am not particularly interested in what you do. I have no intention of making petty threats like a narrow-minded fool. That would be meaningless as the Heavenly Demon.”

“Anyone listening would think you’d already become the Heavenly Demon.”

“You say something obvious.”

The Young Cult Leader looked at me as he spoke. His red eyes shone brilliantly.

“If not me, who do you think will become the Heavenly Demon?”

“Is that so? Then shall I give you one piece of information too?”

Since he had given me something useful, I figured I should hand one over as well.

“There’s someone else besides you who has the qualification. You know that, don’t you?”

“......”

The Young Cult Leader’s expression changed at my words. For an instant, killing intent drifted through the air.

“Interesting.”

“I think so too.”

A cold atmosphere settled damply over the room. In the middle of that reaction, I said to him,

“It was a somewhat tempting story. Fine. I’ll grant it. If I go to Xinjiang, I’ll meet the person I’m supposed to meet. But what do you gain from that?”

“I did not say there was any gain. I am merely in the position of having been asked as well.”

“Asked?”

“If I ever saw the Sword Saint’s inheritor, I was asked to tell him to come find that person.”

“That person asked you?”

“Yes.”

“...That is not an easy thing to say.”

Why? For what purpose was a member of the Azure Moon Sect from two generations ago in Xinjiang, and why did he want to see me?

And Yoo Cheongil’s master, no less?

Do you know anything?

I asked the Heavenly Demon, but—

[Who knows? Nothing comes to mind.]

The Heavenly Demon said he knew nothing. The Young Cult Leader knew something this man did not? That smelled strange.

“How will you hand over the secret manual?”

“I have already passed word ahead. If you come to the Cult, you will know naturally.”

“...Hmm.”

I tilted my head.

At that, the Young Cult Leader continued.

“The choice is yours. Think it over until tomorrow and give me your answer.”

He rose. His attitude said it did not matter if I refused.

Looking at the Young Cult Leader as he stood, I spoke.

“I’ll go.”

“Mm?”

“I said I’m going.”

“...That quickly?”

Even though he had given me time to choose, he looked more taken aback when I chose immediately.

But it did not matter. I had to go anyway.

And the fact that this was a member of the Azure Moon Sect from two generations back was curious. So was the fact that Yoo Cheongil had left something behind.

His ultimate art? That meant he had left something other than Moonbolt or Great Moon.

“I’ll go. Any other conditions?”

“None. Only that one of the Eight Demons will be attached to you for your mission.”

“We have to attach people to each other anyway, so that is fine.”

I had expected that. I did not need to mind it.

I nodded.

“Good. Then I will consider the matter settled and take my leave.”

The Young Cult Leader rose and left.

I stared at his back and narrowed my eyes.

There was one more being to meet in Xinjiang. More work had appeared.

That much did not matter, but—

The important thing is...

I was going to Xinjiang.

And with that in mind, there was one thing I had to do.

It’s about time I decided.

The people going with me.

It was time to choose them.

I took out a sheet of paper and picked up a brush over it.

The total number would be four or five.

I needed younger-generation members who would go with me to the Demonic Cult instead of the Assembly Hall. Thinking that, I wrote down names.

Because there were already people I had in mind.

*****

The next day, I went to see Thousand-Mile Divine Eye.

I handed him the names I had prepared.

“...You intend to take these people?”

“Yes. Would that not be fine?”

“There are a few I do not quite understand.”

“If they will not do, I will revise it.”

“No. They happen to be inside, so I will summon them.”

Bringing them over was not difficult. At the strategist’s summons, the people appeared immediately. Their faces were full of doubt.

Looking at them, Thousand-Mile Divine Eye went straight to the point.

“From now on, you will go to the Demonic Cult and attend the Assembly Hall there, not the one at main Alliance headquarters.”

Their reactions varied.

The first to react amid all that confusion was none other than—

“Must it be me? Can no one else go?”

It was Peng Dojun.

He asked Thousand-Mile Divine Eye with a serious expression. Seeing that left me startled.

“You’re not going?”

It was unexpected that the person I thought would be the happiest was saying he would not go. I thought he would be the most pleased to hear he was going to the Demonic Cult.

Why?

When I asked in confusion, he said,

“I have my younger sister. I must take care of her.”

“...Ah.”

I remembered the Peng Family sister Peng Dojun had been worrying about.

He could not go because of her? I had not known Peng Dojun cared about his younger sister that much.

“If someone other than me can go, I will yield my place.”

Peng Dojun lowered his head as he said it.

I had never seen him show such courtesy.

This was disconcerting.

While he spoke quietly, I looked at someone else.

“You’re going, right?”

The one I asked was none other than Poison Dragon.

With a gloomy expression, he answered,

“...If I say I’m not going, can I not go?”

“No. You have to go.”

“......”

Honestly, it was ridiculous that I even asked.

This bastard had to go. It was something that had to happen. I ignored his opinion.

There was the matter of Ten Thousand Flowers Rain too, but I needed him just in time. We were in a situation where I had to take mostly members of the Eight Prodigies.

It was startling that the Peng Family bastard could not go, but what could I do?

I’ll have to find someone else.

Finding someone else would not be difficult.

Cheon Hyein was out, and Sword Peak was out too, but there happened to be a few candidates.

In the middle of that—

“Um...”

One of the people summoned with them, the person wearing the most confused expression, carefully raised his hand.

All eyes turned to him.

“...But why was I called here?”

A refined-looking young man in a pale blue martial uniform.

It had been years since I last saw him. The last time was probably at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.

A younger-generation member of Wudang Sect, and one of the Eight Prodigies.

Cloud Dragon asked with an expression that said he found the world deeply strange.

“Surely... I am not going to the Demonic Cult too, am I...?”

Yes, this bastard was going too.

In fact, he was probably the person I needed most for the plan I had in mind.

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