Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 378

“Hee-uck! Hee-uck!”

Yeon Ji-Pyeong looked far more haggard than he had a dozen days ago.

His body was streaked with grime, as if he hadn’t washed in ages, and his disheveled hair covered his entire face. It seemed he had been pushing himself too hard in training, as dried blood was visible around his mouth through the gaps in his hair.

Even the martial arts uniform he wore was torn in places and stained with dried blood, making him look utterly wretched.

Drip. Drip.

Blood dripped from the palm of his hand that was gripping his sword. He had been swinging his sword without caring that his protective gear was torn.

“Hoo. Hoo.”

His breathing gradually calmed down.

Yeon Ji-Pyeong, slightly bent at the waist with his arms hanging naturally, had eyes that were burning red.

“…….”

Eventually, his breathing became still.

‘Where am I?’

Yeon Ji-Pyeong, who had been staring blankly at the broken rock, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his lips.

Trickle.

His parched lips cracked open, and blood flowed again over the dried patches.

Yeon Ji-Pyeong thought.

‘When did I last eat?’

No, before that, he couldn’t even remember when he had last drunk water. It felt like it had been at least three days, and it was a wonder he was still standing.

Of course, he didn’t feel any particular emotion about being okay.

‘When did I start swinging my sword?’

He didn’t know. He couldn’t remember.

He couldn’t even remember how he had been swinging his sword. He seemed to have been practicing the family’s secret sword techniques for the first day, but after that, he had no memory of what kind of training he had done.

‘Is this okay?’

It was training that bordered on abuse.

Effort and training change depending on what one is aiming for. Swinging a sword recklessly like this would only damage his body.

Yeon Ji-Pyeong knew this better than anyone. His senses were sharper than most, and he could instinctively grasp the direction of the effort he needed to make.

But now?

‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’

Whoosh.

The wind that blew made his skin tingle.

His five senses had become extremely sensitive. His blank eyes could see even the tiny holes in the cut surface of the rock, his nose could smell all sorts of scents from nature, his ears could hear the sound of ants crawling in the distant forest, and his mouth was filled with the salty taste of blood and the sweet taste of the air.

‘It hurts.’

Since his senses were more active than ever, his body twitched even at the slightest stimulation.

It was then.

‘……?’

Someone was coming. Secretly, cautiously.

His expression remained blank, but his senses were picking up on someone approaching stealthily.

‘There’s no hostility. And…….’

A faint glow appeared in his clear eyes.

‘It’s not one person. It’s two people.’

In that instant.

Whoosh!

Someone who had been approaching rushed towards him.

The flow of air changed. He could tell by the change in the air on his skin even before he heard the sound.

‘Fast.’

It was an incredible speed. Even if he were to exert all his strength to unleash explosive acceleration, he doubted he could match even half of that speed.

Surprisingly, the person rushing towards him was emitting an intense fighting spirit. And the target of that fighting spirit was him.

‘Who is it? Why all of a sudden? But can I even react?’

For a moment, Yeon Ji-Pyeong felt a sense of doubt.

‘But why am I so calm?’

It was not the time to be calm. Although there was no killing intent, the rush was threatening just by its speed. In his current condition, even a single punch could be fatal.

And one more thing.

‘It’s fast… but it doesn’t feel that fast.’

Considering the tremendous speed and acceleration point, he should have been hit before he even had time to think.

Yet, he was thinking and thinking. He was figuring out how to respond to the movements of the unknown powerhouse rushing towards him like lightning.

How was this possible?

Fwoosh!

In an instant, a terrifying light flickered in Yeon Ji-Pyeong’s eyes.

It was as if he had been wandering in a hazy dream and had suddenly fallen into the real world. The sharp sensation of being cut had also become dull.

‘No!’

Yeon Ji-Pyeong instinctively swung his sword.

Clanggggg!

It was an incredibly clean sound. The sharp sound of metal breaking was creating a fierce resonance.

Yeon Ji-Pyeong stared blankly at his sword.

The blade of his three-foot long sword had been cleanly cut in half, turning it into a sword that was just over two feet long.

‘My sword was cut off.’

It wasn’t broken, but cleanly cut off.

What was even more surprising was that the opponent hadn’t countered with a sharp blow at all. Of course, the sharpness was great, but the fact that a perfectly good long sword had turned into a half-sword was due to the explosive speed and power of the slash.

Yeon Ji-Pyeong raised his head.

In front of him stood Yeon Ho-Jeong, holding the Black Dragon Axe, having stopped in the same motion as when he had slashed diagonally.

“Impressive.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong, having released his stance, smiled with satisfaction.

“I felt your energy was incredibly sharp. It was an extreme increase in senses that I hadn’t seen in you before. I was wondering if it was possible, so I poured all my power into a single strike, and you reacted properly to this blow.”

“……Brother?”

“Well done. To be able to condense your true energy [internal energy] to that extent, even if it was for a short time, it must have been an extremely harsh ordeal.”

“Huh?”

Yeon Ji-Pyeong had no idea what his brother was talking about.

At that moment, Gang Ryang, who was standing behind Yeon Ho-Jeong, spoke with his arms crossed.

“It’s truly astonishing. Should we see this as a difference in talent, or a difference in concentration?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong took Gang Ryang’s words.

“It’s not talent. It’s concentration. However, it was a very dangerous attempt. If I had arrived just half an hour later, Ji-Pyeong’s life would have been in danger.”

“To unleash such a brutal axe attack on your own brother, you’re really ruthless, brother.”

“Ruthless? Whose brother is he? I have that much faith in him.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong smiled and patted Yeon Ji-Pyeong’s shoulder.

“Hey, no matter what, don’t do such dangerous training in the future.”

“Huh? Dangerous training?”

Gang Ryang clicked his tongue.

“He doesn’t even know what kind of training he did.”

Yeon Ji-Pyeong looked at Gang Ryang with a bewildered expression.

Gang Ryang shook his head and said,

“I don’t know what kind of shock you received, but you forgot about time and swung your sword until you couldn’t move, putting your heart, body, and energy into the flow of the sword.”

“……?!”

“In other words, it’s a state of selflessness, but the ordeal you went through is hard to describe simply as selflessness. I don’t know if you hypnotized yourself or what, but you went beyond becoming one with the sword and completely bound yourself to it.”

“……!!”

“Sword and I as one. Since you have permeated the sword, your true energy has naturally changed, becoming as powerful and sharp as your swordsmanship. That’s why you were able to react immediately to your brother’s attack.”

Yeon Ji-Pyeong looked at Yeon Ho-Jeong with trembling eyes.

Yeon Ho-Jeong nodded.

“Having this experience doesn’t mean your martial arts will improve immediately. However, the difference between someone who has walked that path and someone who hasn’t is enormous. It will surely be of great help to your future growth.”

“Ah!”

“You’ve been through a lot. But it’s best to refrain from this kind of training in the future. I can’t help but admire your efforts in concentrating so much in such a short time, but you must be able to control your immersion freely to ensure at least a minimum of safety. Immersion that forgets oneself can bring great gifts, but it also comes with great risks.”

Yeon Ji-Pyeong was flustered. It was a martial principle he had never heard of before.

Yeon Ho-Jeong said,

“Did I mention it before? If not, I’ll tell you now. A martial artist who has mastered internal energy means that they know how to handle energy. Energy is rooted in the mind, so if your mind is unstable, your energy is unstable, and if your mind is stable, your energy is stable.”

“Y-yes, I know that.”

“The problem is that the opposite is also possible. Energy can freely change its form and nature according to your thoughts, but if you neglect to control your energy, your mind will be dragged around by the energy that goes wild in the future.”

“……!!”

“The demonic arts that are commonly talked about in the world are that kind of martial art. If you master demonic arts, the harmony of your mind and body is broken, and you become tainted with madness or kill as if it were a meal, right? There aren’t many martial arts with such instability these days, but such phenomena do occur.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong pointed to Yeon Ji-Pyeong’s chest with his finger.

“The root is the mind, and energy is just the warhorse you command. Internal energy that you cannot control is not yours. If you make a mistake, you can become a slave to your true energy even if you have mastered righteous martial arts, and you can lose yourself.”

“……!”

“And that is the initial symptom of Qi Deviation [a dangerous state of imbalance in one’s internal energy]. Uncontrolled energy goes wild and harms its master. If I hadn’t stopped your training earlier, your life would have been in danger due to Qi Deviation.”

While giving his younger brother a lesson, Yeon Ho-Jeong also realized something.

Why his martial arts hadn’t grown as quickly as before, why he hadn’t been able to advance to the next stage despite having clear goals and efforts.

‘I almost fell into Qi Deviation as well.’

His efforts were clear. However, as the Dark Emperor, he was fixated on the level he had achieved.

It couldn’t be helped. It was a clear path, and it was a path he had already experienced, so he was confident that he could reach the level of the Dark Emperor in a few years if he followed it properly.

‘I was wrong.’

That’s right. He was wrong.

Yeon Ho-Jeong was no longer the Dark Emperor. He was the eldest son of the Yeon family, the peerless late-stage master Byeoksan Hojang [a title of a martial arts master], the commander of the strongest military unit of the Martial Alliance, the Uijeong Unit, and the general of the Myeolsa Unit.

There was no longer a place for the Dark Emperor.

He could use the experience of the Dark Emperor, but the path to grow as the Dark Emperor was closed. He was forging a new path, and that path was completely different from the path he had taken to grow as the Dark Emperor.

If the mind leads the energy, then what leads the mind is clear reason and self-reflection. And what blossoms reason and self-reflection is also energy, and energy is rooted in the mind.

A cycle of realization. Somehow, Yeon Ho-Jeong had escaped that infinite staircase and gone astray.

‘I will not wander anymore.’

Unlike his days as the Dark Emperor, who grew based on the Hongcheon energy, he was now growing by forming the Yeon Family’s Divine Core [a core of internal energy].

He knew the difference in his head, but he couldn’t feel the difference in his heart.

He would no longer show such a pathetic side of himself.

Clang.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, having put the Black and White Twin Dragon Axes on his waist and picked up the Light Dragon Axe that he had put down on one side, turned his body.

“I stopped by to check on your condition before leaving for my mission. If you were okay, I was wondering if you would like to join me this time.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong no longer looked back at Yeon Ji-Pyeong. He simply walked towards the entrance of the forest.

Yeon Ho-Jeong asked, without stopping his steps.

“Will you join me?”

Yeon Ji-Pyeong’s eyes lit up.

Flutter!

Far away at the entrance of the forest, countless warhorses and the veteran warriors riding them were looking at this place with cold eyes.

‘That’s the place.’

Right there, in the world where those people live, my brother lives. And Gang Ryang was chosen for the path leading to that world.

Then what about him?

“I will go.”

Swoosh!

Yeon Ji-Pyeong, having sheathed his half-sword, staggered and followed behind Yeon Ho-Jeong.

“I will no longer just wait and worry.”

Before being chosen, he was already prepared.

Yeon Ho-Jeong nodded.

“Take care of your own life.”