The World's Greatest is Dead

Woo Young Jin’s brow furrowed hard. What had he just heard?

Wicked and insignificant?

He had never heard anything like that in his life. Was that supposed to be something a person could say? He narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

Was what that bastard said true? He did not know. At the very least, he himself had not heard it. Which meant—

Is he trying to pull something?

Woo Young Jin was not a complete fool. He immediately understood the method of Bang Seongyeon, the man called Moon Hero.

It was obvious how he meant to move.

But—

Look at this?

Once he realized it, he smiled. It would be a shame to simply let something like this pass. If the other side was offering him an opening first, he had no reason to refuse.

In truth, he wanted to grab Bang Seongyeon by the collar right away and show him the difference between their levels.

Still. That one is not bad either.

He was a younger-generation prodigy either way. If he had come this far, there was a high chance he was someone well known in the orthodox faction.

Then—

—He is a younger-generation prodigy called Poison Dragon of the Tang Family of Sichuan.

Poison Dragon?

After hearing the guard’s information, Woo Young Jin thought it over. Poison Dragon. He had heard a certain amount of information about the orthodox faction.

It seemed he was one of several geniuses known as prodigies.

A genius—

That bastard?

The one being ignored while Moon Hero hurled all kinds of remarks at him? It was absurd.

I can see the level of the orthodox faction now.

Who was calling whom insignificant? Moon Hero’s words sounded truly laughable.

Trying to deal with trash like this must be why the Young Cult Leader’s shoulders have risen so high.

He was different from that time now. Their levels were as far apart as heaven and earth.

If he faced the Young Cult Leader now, Woo Young Jin was certain he could win.

In that position, all that rose in Woo Young Jin’s eyes as he looked at Poison Dragon was a smile.

“Do you think you can spit out such insolence and simply walk away?”

He spoke words different from his thoughts. Poison Dragon’s face crumpled at them, and the corners of Bang Seongyeon’s mouth rose just like Woo Young Jin’s.

“...You speak like someone who doesn’t know his place. Fine. Let us see whether you have the skill to run your tongue that way.”

Woo Young Jin slowly raised a fist and pointed at Poison Dragon.

“Follow me.”

“...”

At those words, Poison Dragon looked at Bang Seongyeon. His expression made the thought in his head painfully clear.

What am I supposed to do about this?

“...What do you mean, what are you supposed to do? You caused the accident, so clean it up yourself.”

“...What accident did I cause?”

“That’s why you shouldn’t run your mouth and provoke someone’s temper. A man ought to live kindly.”

“You really are going to hell.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Poison Dragon’s refined language was lightly ignored. Poison Dragon sighed and rose.

“...Damn it. Why did I even get dragged to a place like this...”

His muttering brushed my ears. Poison Dragon followed Woo Young Jin outside.

“Can we leave him like that?”

Peng Dojun asked me. Could we leave him like that?

“Well, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“...Are you serious? Do you think he can win?”

“I don’t know about winning or losing, but for now...”

I spoke while thinking back to the Woo Young Jin I had just seen.

“It looks like it’ll be fun, doesn’t it?”

“...”

Peng Dojun looked disgusted at that. Then, after thinking for a moment—

“I can’t deny that.”

“Right?”

As expected of a bastard whose brain had turned into muscle, he understood me well.

*****

We followed them outside.

There was a field behind the inn. It did not look particularly well maintained, but there seemed to be no real problem using it.

You could say it was just the right place for martial artists to spar. I was thinking that as I looked around when—

“What is your name?”

Woo Young Jin asked Poison Dragon.

“...Tang Cheonil.”

“Tang Cheonil. I see.”

Woo Young Jin slowly took his stance. Seeing that, I was honestly impressed. His stance was properly set. It seemed he was not some nobody.

[Are you even at a level where you can judge that?]

The Heavenly Demon picked a fight, sounding doubtful. I ignored him.

...I can see that much, at least.

I had a life where I had been forcibly beaten, trained hard, and somehow survived. My realm was no longer low either, so I could at least see that much.

And if I was wrong, what about it?

It’s true I don’t know much about fighter types.

Most martial artists tended to use swords or the like, so I did not know unarmed martial artists like that very well. Still, I had some experience.

Anyway.

Poison Dragon Tang Cheonil. I watched his reaction. His bored eyes stood out. His attitude said this was incredibly annoying. How did he manage to look that annoyed?

Whirl.

I noticed the throwing knife still held in his hand.

He spun several of them lightly and finished preparing himself. It seemed he did intend to fight.

“Let me ask first,” Tang Cheonil said to Woo Young Jin.

“Is forfeiting allowed?”

“...What?”

Woo Young Jin’s face twisted at the word forfeit. He clearly had not expected such a thing to come out of Tang Cheonil’s mouth.

Same for me.

Forfeit?

Was that bastard someone who knew how to do that?

...I didn’t think that was his personality.

At least, not as far as I knew. He was competitive and had a filthy temper, yet he was mentioning forfeiting.

I was wondering what had happened, but—

“It’s still a spar, after all. It would be a shame if you forfeited too easily.”

“...Ha.”

“Wow, is he insane?”

Amazingly, he had just said it to provoke him. He was certain Woo Young Jin would be the one forfeiting, not himself.

As expected of one of the three biggest lunatics among the orthodox faction’s younger-generation prodigies.

For reference, the other two were Peng Dojun and Yu Yeon. I heard those three were practically called mad dogs.

“...I had intended to exchange only a few moderate moves.”

Tang Cheonil’s words seemed to have reached Woo Young Jin. His expression collapsed in an instant.

“I cannot tolerate arrogance.”

He slowly clenched his fist and put strength into it. The moment power entered his fist—

RUMBLE—!

Oh?

The force pouring out of his body was sharp and intense. I thought it would be heavy, but it looked thinner than that.

And yet it was refined. Since he was supposedly a Demonic Cultist, I thought he would be quite rough, but that did not seem to be the case.

Was he not using demonic qi?

I don’t really feel any.

I did not know whether he could control it and use it selectively, or whether he was simply not using it, but I needed to watch first.

Looking at that, Tang Cheonil—

“Whew.”

He breathed out quietly and spun the dagger in his hand. What had been a throwing knife at some point had changed into a dagger.

His switching speed seemed faster than before.

“I will yield the first move.”

Woo Young Jin spoke. First move? At those words, Tang Cheonil suddenly looked at me.

“Why?”

“...”

Why was he looking at me? Just as I was wondering—

Tuk.

“Hm?”

Tang Cheonil suddenly took out a throwing knife and tossed it to the ground. What was he doing? Everyone flinched at the sudden, inexplicable action.

“First move.”

“...”

“Pfft.”

At the calm words, Peng Dojun, standing beside me, could not hold back and burst into laughter.

“Khh... khkh... kuh...”

“...”

But he was looking at me while snickering. What? Why was he laughing at me? It felt filthy.

“Ah, he learned perfectly from someone.”

“...What are you talking about?”

When had I ever done anything like that? I had no memory of doing something so rude and immature.

As I was speaking in confusion—

“You bastard...”

Fwoooooosh—!

A tremendous killing intent erupted from Woo Young Jin. It was vicious. It seemed Tang Cheonil had provoked him properly.

“Fine. I shall kill you, orthodox trash.”

Crack. The ground under his toe caved in, and Woo Young Jin’s figure vanished.

A gust of wind blew in an instant, and Woo Young Jin arrived in front of Tang Cheonil.

Whoooosh—!

His fist shot forward swiftly. It drove straight in as if to smash Tang Cheonil’s face apart.

Bang—!

“Hm?”

All I heard was the sound of empty air exploding. It had clearly seemed to strike Tang Cheonil’s face.

“Petty tricks—!”

Woo Young Jin realized it not long after. What he had just struck was only Tang Cheonil’s trace. A petty trick made with inner qi.

Tang Cheonil’s body turned semitransparent, dissolved into smoke, and disappeared. Woo Young Jin immediately turned around.

“Where are you?”

But it seemed he could not see Tang Cheonil.

That bastard.

Watching, my eyes widened.

Was he always this good?

Since I had been scolding him every time he just threw Ten Thousand Flowers Rain around, I had not gotten a sense of how much his level had improved.

...He’s completely different from back then.

He was not the Tang Cheonil who had been crushed by Peng Dojun at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering. His concealment arts had grown on an entirely different track.

Even while Woo Young Jin was charging at him from the front, he used them and hid himself.

In this wide-open field, no less.

“To hide like a coward! Come out at once!”

Woo Young Jin shouted while releasing inner qi, but it seemed he could not find Tang Cheonil. He ground his teeth at that.

“If you will not appear, then I need only destroy everything.”

He packed inner qi into his fist and fired it into the ground.

KABOOOM—! CRACKLE—!

His inner qi exploded, crushing the entire ground. Cracks spread through the earth like a spiderweb, and debris shot upward.

With everything thrown into the air, the places to hide disappeared. I wondered if he would be able to find Tang Cheonil now, when his tracks had vanished.

Disappointing.

That choice was wrong.

“Where are—”

Before Woo Young Jin could say anything—

BANG—!

“Kugh!?”

His body was flung away by an impact. As if he had been reflected off something, he burst out of the ruined field.

Screeech—!

He barely planted his feet and used the friction to slow himself. Beyond him, Tang Cheonil appeared.

He held two throwing knives in his hand and fired them straight out.

Flick—!

Only two.

The throwing knives cut through the air and flew swiftly toward [N O V E L I G H T] Woo Young Jin.

“Kh!”

Seeing them, Woo Young Jin swung his hand.

Bang—! Clang—!

His gauntleted hand knocked the throwing knives away. Then something burst.

Paaak—!

“Ugh!?”

It seemed he had not simply thrown the knives. Something exploded and blocked Woo Young Jin’s vision. Dirt? No, looking at the material, that did not seem to be it.

However, it seemed to be used only to block his sight, because there was no other damage.

Woo Young Jin hurriedly tried to brush the dust away, and it did not take long.

That instant is what matters.

His feet had been bound for an instant. His vision had been stolen just like that.

That alone meant it was already too late.

“You bastard...!”

“Where are you looking?”

“...!”

Woo Young Jin tried to move next, but Tang Cheonil had lightly appeared beside him and was holding a dagger to his throat.

Prick.

Blood flowed from the tip of the blade touching his neck.

Woo Young Jin rolled his eyes and looked at Tang Cheonil. Seeing his eyes, Tang Cheonil gave a faint smile and said,

“You are slow. Even when it comes to looking.”

“...”

Humiliation rose over Woo Young Jin’s face when he heard those words.

...What the hell?

Watching that, I thought—

How does that bastard know that line?

It sounded like something I had heard somewhere before.

The fact that it was painfully cringe-inducing was a bonus.

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