Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 113

Moyong Yeon-Hwa was inwardly startled, but outwardly she didn’t show it.

“What nonsense are you spouting? Do you think you’ll get away with this after making such a mess?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong stared at Moyong Yeon-Hwa for a moment, then flicked his index finger and thumb.

“Muk Bi.”

“Yes?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong threw three chopsticks that were lying on the table.

Muk Bi, who caught the chopsticks, looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“There are three. You know that, right?”

Three?

Muk Bi, wondering what he meant, suddenly felt a strange sensation.

‘Someone is watching this place?’

Muk Bi looked around outside the window. There were three places: north, east, and south.

Yeon Ho-Jeong spoke calmly.

“We don’t want our business to be known to others.”

In an instant, Muk Bi realized what Yeon Ho-Jeong was talking about.

Thump!

She stomped hard on the floor and threw the chopsticks in her hand.

Pheeing!

Even though she threw three, it sounded like she threw one. The sound of the air being cut was sharp.

Thud! Thump!

Startled voices were heard from outside the window.

“Kyaaak!”

“W-What is it? A person?”

“Someone fell!”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s eyes wavered.

“You…?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong smiled.

“I don’t like flies buzzing around.”

They were the informants from the Yellow Wind Pavilion.

The Hosun Grand Restaurant was the best restaurant in Zhejiang, where only those who were qualified could enter. So, Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s escorts were waiting at a high-end restaurant a little further away.

But the Yellow Wind Pavilion was different. They were watching this place every moment.

However, no matter how great their stealth skills were, they were not enough to deceive Yeon Ho-Jeong. Muk Bi, too, could catch them if she fully opened her senses.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa looked at Muk Bi.

‘……!’

Muk Bi’s eyes had become as sharp as blades.

‘A master?!’

Moyong Yeon-Hwa was startled.

She also knew that Muk Bi had learned martial arts. But no matter how she looked at her, the internal energy and gait she felt were not those of a master.

She was wrong.

Muk Bi’s true martial arts were in a realm that Moyong Yeon-Hwa could not reach. Her gait was so excellent in the realm of footwork and movement that it appeared ordinary.

‘How can this be!’

She had misjudged her.

She had thought of her as just an ordinary woman that Yeon Ho-Jeong was taking around. Her face was pretty enough, but she looked so innocent that she was sure she was a second-rate martial artist who didn’t know the ways of the world.

The young members of the merchant alliance were also shocked.

They thought she was just a low-status martial artist who looked docile and foolish, but that was not the case. The subtle aura emanating from Muk Bi was so powerful that it made their hearts tremble.

“Now, tell me.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes turned cold.

“Why did you provoke Muk Bi?”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa calmly retorted.

“What are you talking about? It was your side that caused the trouble first, not me.”

“You didn’t cause the trouble directly. But you used your snake-like tongue to manipulate them into provoking her.”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s eyes deepened.

“Don’t insult me anymore. Do you think you’ll be okay after this?”

Her tone changed harshly.

Yeon Ho-Jeong chuckled.

“Why? Is it easy to bury me?”

“Of course. The Yeon family’s power has grown quite a bit lately, but it’s nothing compared to the Moyong family. If the main family decides to, burying the Yeon family is not difficult.”

“Can’t you think about why you haven’t been able to do that easy thing yet?”

“At least it’s not because of you.”

“That’s why your father doesn’t appoint you as the young head of the family.”

“……What?”

“You’re smart, but you’re still a kid who only sees what you want to see. That’s why you’re not appointed as the young head of the family. Surely, you’re not still comforting yourself by thinking that you can’t be the young head of the family because you’re a woman, are you?”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s cheeks twitched.

The opponent had touched her reverse scale [a metaphor for a person’s most sensitive point]. She felt a stronger surge of anger than ever before.

“If you insult me with such nonsense one more time… !”

Whoosh.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa was startled.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who was five steps away, was now standing right in front of her, looking down at her.

“If I insult you?”

“……!”

“There’s no one here to report it even if I kill you on the spot, so what are you going to do?”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s eyes shook violently.

‘This guy!’

Now she understood why he had eliminated the Yellow Wind Pavilion that was watching this place.

Yeon Ho-Jeong had completely turned this place into an independent space. There were many people eating, but this issue was a fight between the young masters of the Six Great Families. Their eyes and opinions had little power.

Of course, he wouldn’t really kill her. But there was no problem with subduing or trampling her.

After all, if Yeon Ho-Jeong’s side claimed it wasn’t true, there would be nothing she could say.

“You’re a truly despicable man.”

“I’ll do anything, no matter how despicable, to crush my opponent.”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa bit her lip.

‘Damn it.’

At least for now, there was no way for her to resist Yeon Ho-Jeong.

Both Yeon Ho-Jeong and Muk Bi were masters of martial arts several levels above her. Moreover, the Yellow Wind Pavilion and her escort warriors were gone.

She was completely alone. That fact made her very flustered.

“I’ll ask one last time.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes blazed.

“Why did you provoke Muk Bi?”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s lips twitched.

“……Is that so important?”

Thwack!

Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s mouth fell open.

‘……What?’

Her waist was bent in half. Yeon Ho-Jeong’s knee had struck her abdomen.

Yeon Ho-Jeong looked down at Moyong Yeon-Hwa with cold eyes.

“You didn’t take my last words seriously.”

“Cough!”

“Farewell.”

Thud!

Moyong Yeon-Hwa spat out blood and staggered back. She had been hit in the jaw with a palm strike.

The powerful force shook her head. She couldn’t come to her senses.

Perhaps it was fortunate that her jaw wasn’t broken.

‘Eek!’

Even in her dazed state, Moyong Yeon-Hwa reached out her hand.

Whoooom!

The internal energy emanating from her beautiful hand was very sharp. It was the Moyong family’s Saku Pung Shin Su [North Wind Divine Hand – a martial arts technique].

Thwack!

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s fist shattered the force of her hand strike and struck her thigh.

Crack!

“Aaaagh!”

An immense pain swept through her entire lower body.

It wasn’t broken, but it was enough to make her kneel. Her entire lower body was numb.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa quickly raised her head.

She was now holding Yeon Ho-Jeong’s fist.

Whoooosh!

A semi-transparent white vortex swirled around his fist.

‘Gasp!’

She was going to die.

The power he had gathered in an instant was terrifying. It was enough to shatter her skull with one blow.

“You underestimated me too much.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s murderous voice made Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s heart beat twice as fast.

‘It’s a bluff.’

It had to be a bluff. If he killed her now, Yeon Ho-Jeong wouldn’t be safe either. No, not just Yeon Ho-Jeong, but the entire Yeon family would be in flames.

He could never kill her. It was just a threat.

Bwaaaang!

Yeon Ho-Jeong smiled like a ghost and swung his fist.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s pupils shrank.

‘He’ll stop! He’ll stop!’

Even before his fist touched her, her hair was already flying back from the wind pressure.

Time seemed to slow down. The fist that was pushing through the air, like waves creating ripples, seemed to move slowly.

‘He can’t possibly kill me…!’

Then, Moyong Yeon-Hwa saw Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes.

His eyes were burning with genuine murderous intent. The red killing intent was visible in his unique blue aura.

The killing intent of a ferocious beast.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa closed her eyes tightly.

“There’s no reason!!”

Crack!

A chilling sound echoed throughout the entire floor.

“Huk! Huk!”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa gasped for breath. The honest fear was evident in her slowly opened eyes.

She had almost died.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa trembled and looked behind her.

‘Gasp!’

Behind her, the floor and walls were a mess, as if they had been crushed by a heavy blade storm.

‘This bastard…!’

It wasn’t something to be happy about just because she had survived.

It was amazing that he had withdrawn his internal energy in the middle, but the sight created by the fist pressure was also terrifyingly great.

If he hadn’t withdrawn his power, her entire upper body would have been crushed. It wasn’t a fist technique that pressed down with force, but an internal energy fist that used the principle of transferring silk to unleash power.

It would grind away both the outside and the inside.

It was a terrifying killing technique. There would have been no need to use such an attack unless he intended to erase Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s existence itself.

“There’s no reason?”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa bit her lip.

“……Yes.”

“No reason means you just picked a fight because she’s with my group, right?”

“……”

“Answer me?”

Moyong Yeon-Hwa said in a venomous voice.

“Yes! That’s what it was!”

Surprisingly, that was the truth.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa had genuinely wanted to harass Muk Bi and had instigated the fight. There was no grand cause or hatred behind it.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes deepened.

“You’re worse than a black-hearted gangster.”

Shudder.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s body trembled. It was not from fear, but from resentment.

She wanted to shout, but she kept her mouth shut. She realized that venting her emotions here would only be a disadvantage.

‘Damn it! Damn it!’

From the beginning, she was not the type to make such childish mistakes.

Moyong Gun cherished her because of her cold heart and high-level strategy. Moyong Yeon-Hwa had never disappointed Moyong Gun.

However, there was a side of her that Moyong Gun didn’t know.

It was her inferiority complex.

Moyong Gun had unknowingly inflicted many wounds on Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s pride. Most of them were because of the issue of the young head of the family.

But recently, an existence that inflicted even greater wounds on her pride had appeared.

Yeon Ho-Jeong.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa couldn’t stand her father praising Yeon Ho-Jeong as a more talented person than herself.

If she acknowledged that, it would mean that she was not becoming the young head of the family not because of her gender, but because of her ability.

Once wounded, the heart has a great impact on a person’s life.

Moreover, the sight of the Yellow Wind Pavilion informants returning as mutes made her blood boil. She thought Yeon Ho-Jeong was mocking her.

From the beginning, it was a mistake to attach informants. But she didn’t acknowledge it, or rather, she didn’t realize it.

That’s how her shaken pride and anger had driven the situation to this point.

Moyong Yeon-Hwa suddenly raised her head.

“How dare you use a killing technique on the eldest daughter of the great Moyong family! The main family will never forgive the Yeon family!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong smiled.

“It’s good to be energetic, but you’ll never be able to surpass the main family in your life.”

“You… !”

Thud!

Moyong Yeon-Hwa collapsed. She had been hit in a pressure point.

Yeon Ho-Jeong spoke to the young members of the merchant alliance.

“Take care of her yourselves. And…”

He whispered a few words into a young man’s ear.

At the same time, his face turned pale.

“M-Moyong family?!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong patted the young man’s shoulder.

“You don’t want to go bankrupt, do you? You’ve just taken your first step.”

“I-Is that true?”

“Why would I lie when it’ll be found out? It’s something you can find out right away if you check.”

“Huk!”

“You can be forgiven if you cause trouble in moderation. You don’t want to end up as beggars, do you? You shouldn’t drive such a stake into your parents’ hearts.”

“……”

“Act wisely. Understand?”

“……Y-Yes, I understand!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who patted the young man’s shoulder several times, picked up his axe and walked towards Muk Bi.

“I’m starving, and I’ve just wasted my energy. Let’s go out and eat.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

“Huh?”

Muk Bi looked around at Moyong Yeon-Hwa and the young members of the merchant alliance with worried eyes.

“What if they hold a grudge…?”

“Don’t worry. By the time that woman who can’t tell right from wrong wakes up, the world will be a little different.”

“Yes?”

“There’s no way I’d have messed her up like that without thinking, right?”

Even if Moyong Yeon-Hwa didn’t want to go, she had to be sent to Moyong Woo by force.

He wanted to make her unable to recover for the rest of her life, but now was not the time.

‘Moyong Yeon-Hwa would be a good enough prey for Moyong Woo.’

Muk Bi smiled as she watched Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes sparkle as if he was looking forward to it.

“I don’t know much, but didn’t your father have a lot of headaches because of you?”

“If I wasn’t his son, I might have been killed.”

“Heh.”

“Let’s go. Let’s have a drink today.”

“Are you buying?”

“You’re broke, why are you asking?”

“I have a lot of money.”

“Where do you have money?”

“My father gave me an allowance.”

“What? To you?”

“Yes.”

“Damn it. Then you buy.”

“No taking back your words.”

“I can. You’re buying today.”

“Okay, then.”

“Hahaha.”

“Do you have to laugh like that?”

“You’re picking a fight over my laughter.”

It seemed like they had completely forgotten the murderous atmosphere from just a moment ago.

The faces of the two people leaving Hosun Restaurant looked quite cheerful.