Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 434

“Deputy Chief.”

“Hmm.”

Yang Cheon emptied his cup.

“It’s stale.”

“I apologize.”

“It’s not your fault. The brewmaster brought bad liquor from the start.”

“……”

Yang Cheon smiled, watching Baek Seo silently lower his head.

“Hey, Baek Seo.”

“Yes, Deputy Chief.”

“Is it bad?”

“……Pardon?”

“I asked if you’re in a bad mood.”

Baek Seo was flustered for the first time in a long while. He felt his composure, which he had always maintained, waver whenever the Deputy Chief spoke to him like this.

Of course, as one of Yang Cheon’s most trusted aides, he was also skilled at managing his expressions.

Baek Seo replied in a steady voice.

“How could that be?”

“I’ve told you before, there’s no need to lie in front of me.”

“……”

“Heh heh, just as you’ve served me for a long time, I’ve watched you for a long time as well. Do you think I wouldn’t know my confidant’s mood?”

Baek Seo felt a surge of emotion.

After Yeon Ho-Jeong returned to the Black Dragon Unit, the Deputy Chief seemed much more relaxed than before.

To be precise, his increasingly sharp personality had changed back to being generous and easygoing, as it used to be. From the beginning, Yang Cheon, unlike an ambitious person, was strict with his people but gentle in private.

It was something he already knew, but what made Baek Seo emotional was the word ‘confidant,’ which he had heard after so long.

“There have been so many strange things happening lately. Not only was I deceived by a greenhorn, but a woman who knows as much about politics as a sparrow knows about tears came and made impudent demands with her head held high. Right in front of my face, no less.”

The greenhorn was Yeon Ho-Jeong, and the woman was the leader of the branch from Bota Hermitage.

Baek Seo lowered his head a little more.

“It’s too much to call him a greenhorn, considering his talent and abilities are so outstanding.”

Letting the impudent woman go quietly could be interpreted as the magnanimity of a leader. However, being deceived by the greenhorn was a matter of ability.

That’s why Baek Seo praised Yeon Ho-Jeong. His leader was not someone who could be deceived by a mere greenhorn.

Yang Cheon could read Baek Seo’s mind. So he laughed.

“Hahaha, it seems you’ve gotten old too. You’re even flattering me now.”

“……”

“Well, you’re right. Yeon Ho-Jeong, that guy, is too outstanding to be called a greenhorn. Even though I was deceived by him once, I somehow want to get my hands on him again.”

“Deputy Chief.”

“I know. Do you think I would bring him back to the Black Dragon Unit?”

“……”

“I have my pride too. Even if I did, he wouldn’t come. I plan to pay him back someday, but I don’t really want to recruit him into the main unit.”

“I apologize.”

Yang Cheon stroked his chin.

“Whatever the case, after experiencing these recent events, I suddenly had this thought.”

“……”

“Patience is a truly important virtue.”

Baek Seo’s eyes flickered.

Filling his cup again, Yang Cheon continued.

“Being tricked by Yeon Ho-Jeong was because of my lack of ability. And my lack of insight into people.”

“That’s not true, Deputy Chief.”

“I admit it.”

“……”

Baek Seo also knew. Why Yang Cheon’s body was in such a state, and why Yang Cheon’s insight had become dull.

It was because of the Demonic Cult Leader. He had spent a long time in an abnormal state after being attacked by the Demonic Cult Leader’s martial arts.

However, Yang Cheon did not blame the Demonic Cult Leader. He thought of it as his own ability and insight.

He was a great man. Baek Seo felt that Yang Cheon, the person, the leader he served, had finally become ‘complete’.

“However, the woman from Bota Hermitage is different. What shook Bota Hermitage was the doing of a disciple dispatched under my orders. In other words, the current chaotic situation in Bota Hermitage is something I intended.”

“……”

“I’ve been involved in countless things, but there haven’t been many cases where things went according to my intentions. One of them is Bota Hermitage. So, it’s something to be applauded, but listening to that woman come and make such demands made me feel like my insides were turning upside down.”

“That is… I think it’s a different matter.”

“A different matter?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Throwing Bota Hermitage into a vortex of chaos was a result of your amazing plan, Deputy Chief, but her being arrogant was just the conceit of an arrogant person who doesn’t know how to see her opponent.”

Yang Cheon smiled.

“Do you think so?”

“Yes. Moreover, she is a fallen swordsman who is intoxicated by past glories and has even neglected her training.”

The expert from Bota Hermitage who had been dispatched possessed tremendous martial arts.

As if proving that the name of the legendary Bota Hermitage was not for nothing, her martial prowess far surpassed Baek Seo’s. The aura of a swordsman who had devoted his life to swordsmanship was also formidable.

However, Baek Seo could tell. That old fox had neglected her training for the past two or three years.

She was someone who had stepped into the muddy waters of political strife while pursuing swordsmanship. When the sun that shone brightly from above falls, it becomes colder than moonlight. That was the case with that fox.

Baek Seo was confident. If he were to use all the secret techniques he had hidden, he could kill that fox, even if she was in a superior realm than him.

It was only two or three years, but that two or three years of negligence had dulled the edge of the sword that had been sharpened for a lifetime, making it like a club.

In the end, she was only that much of a person. Although Yang Cheon was involved in the current Bota Hermitage situation, she was someone who would have fallen apart at any time, even without it.

“For a martial artist, the ability to properly assess an opponent’s capabilities is essential. If you attack an opponent you shouldn’t, your life will be in danger. Similarly, a politician must also properly assess an opponent’s capabilities. If you make a mistake, not only you but also the organization you belong to will be ruined.”

“So, that woman is disqualified as both a martial artist and a politician?”

“She may be a martial artist, but I don’t think she deserves to be called a politician. She’s just a fool who mistakenly believes she’s perceptive and intelligent.”

Yang Cheon chuckled.

He was thinking similarly to Baek Seo. If that fox’s eyes hadn’t been filled with the madness of desire, he wouldn’t have tolerated it either.

A person who has lost their reason to desire tries to burn the world with even the smallest gesture.

What Yang Cheon did to her this time was exactly that.

“By the way, what do you think? Bota Hermitage is divided into three factions. One of them came to me, so one of the other two will probably go to the Martial Alliance.”

“Perhaps, both of them might.”

“That possibility can’t be ruled out. However, even if they are blinded by desire, they know how to draw at least a minimal picture. They will also be watching each other closely. If one of them goes to the Martial Alliance, the other will be busy trying to get another backer.”

Baek Seo’s eyes gleamed.

“Are you talking about a third group?”

“That’s right.”

“In the current martial world, the only organizations comparable to us or the Martial Alliance are…”

“There is one. Not in the Central Plains, though.”

“……!”

Baek Seo’s face hardened.

“Could it be that they would extend their reach that far? They probably don’t even know about the existence of the Three Teachings [a reference to major influential martial arts sects]?”

“That’s right. They are a group with poor intelligence, so they probably don’t know about the Three Teachings.”

Yang Cheon smiled faintly.

“But what if someone told them about the existence of the Three Teachings?”

“……!!”

“Then, wouldn’t it be possible for two tigers and a three-headed wolf to fight in the fox den that is Bota Hermitage?”

“Deputy Chief.”

Baek Seo spoke cautiously, very cautiously.

“I apologize for saying this, but leaking information from our side is too…”

“At first, yes.”

Yang Cheon cut off Baek Seo’s words sharply.

“When I first tried to ruin Bota Hermitage, I had my own reasons. You know that, right?”

“……Yes.”

“Bota Hermitage has produced swordsmen worthy of being called the best in the world for generations. Not a single generation has been missed. It’s just that the world didn’t know it.”

Yang Cheon leaned back in his chair.

His eyes, looking up at the ceiling, were filled with unfathomable depth.

“That existence is the Sword Empress. And to be recognized as the Sword Empress, one must go out into the world and prove their abilities and righteousness.”

“That’s right.”

“And for generations, the Sword Empresses have interfered with our Black Path [a term referring to a group of martial artists who operate outside the law].”

Proof of strength, proof of righteousness.

The Sword Empress is not simply a symbol of Bota Hermitage’s martial arts. She is a symbolic existence that presents not only Bota Hermitage’s martial power but also their spirit and the path they should take.

Such an existence was not born just by receiving good teachings. It was also important how they accumulated good deeds in the world and how they punished evil.

Therefore, the single candidate who passed the final gate would come out into the Central Plains [a region in the story] for a certain period and act anonymously. They would thoroughly hide themselves, punish evil in unseen places, and accumulate good deeds without anyone knowing.

From the Black Path’s perspective, it was inevitable that they would grind their teeth, as they were destined to be defeated by the Sword Empress for generations. From the beginning, it was the Black Path’s groups that were exhausting the minds and bodies of the common people, and the root organizations among them were destroyed by the Sword Empress once per generation.

An existence that could not be suppressed even with force.

The world’s unknown master of absolute martial arts. Therefore, for the Black Path, the Sword Empress was like an unstoppable disaster.

“Perhaps this generation’s Sword Empress would have come to me. If Bota Hermitage hadn’t been in that state.”

Yang Cheon closed his eyes.

“Whether it’s to punish evil or as a challenge as a martial artist, I don’t care. If they come, I’ll just crush them. However…”

“……”

“I am the leader of the Black Path Alliance, the Black Dragon Unit. Before my competitive spirit as a martial artist, before the confidence given by the title of Fighting King, as a leader with many people under me, I had to find a way to win without fighting.”

“I dare say it was a wise decision.”

“But the situation has changed.”

*Whoosh!*

A heavy aura emanated from Yang Cheon’s body.

“I’m a fool who didn’t even know I was attacked by the Demonic Cult Leader and spent years like an idiot. While I was stagnant, countless new talents and strange groups I’ve never even heard of have risen up.”

“……”

“I will no longer remain just the master of the Black Path Alliance.”

*Hwaaaah!*

Terrible killing intent erupted from Yang Cheon’s eyes.

“Wouldn’t it be okay to send a warning to the guy who made me like this? To open wide the chest of the guy who will be pierced by my fist, and if necessary, shouldn’t I use any vicious means without hesitation?”

“……Deputy Chief.”

“Baek Seo.”

“Yes, Deputy Chief.”

“I must have it, the existence of the Sword Empress.”

“……!”

“I must hold the world’s divine sword, which shines coldly without purpose, in my hand. With that sword, I must cut off at least one of the two characters of ‘Demonic Cult’. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Baek Seo lowered his head.

“I will only follow your orders.”

“Yeon Ho-Jeong, he’s in Guangdong?”

“Yes, he is.”

“The Martial Alliance hasn’t chosen a leader yet.”

“That’s right.”

Yang Cheon closed his eyes.

“Send a letter to Yeon Ho-Jeong. He is the core of the Martial Alliance’s politics. At least for now.”

“……”

“We must move him.”