Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1003

“What, what is this?!”

Jin Yang, startled by the sudden disappearance of Namgoong In’s life force, rushed from under the pavilion.

“……!!”

Jin Yang’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Namgoong In had collapsed, his head striking the table with a sickening thud. His face was turned towards them, his eyes wide open and terribly vacant.

He was dead.

Namgoong In’s face, which had turned deathly pale in an instant, was unmistakably that of a corpse.

“Chief?”

“……Damn it.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong glanced around.

Numerous figures were waiting in the shadows, hidden from view. It seemed they had been ordered to remain in their respective quarters.

Naturally, no one except those directly involved knew what had transpired here.

If it was a ruptured heart meridian [a fatal internal injury], it could be seen as suicide, but it could also be interpreted as a rupture caused by an external force. He couldn’t very well ask his opponent to cut his neck, so he ruptured his own heart meridian and committed suicide, which created a very strange and suspicious situation.

‘I’ve been had.’

It had been a long time since he had fallen into such a blatant trap.

And it was a fatal one.

Yeon Ho-Jeong had suppressed the anti-Black Moon Clan warriors blocking the front of the Namgoong family with his aura and entered. That act alone would lead Namgoong In’s death to be seen as murder, not suicide. Even if the circumstances weren’t so suspicious, it was common sense that the person who was with him would be suspected, and because of the outrageous things he had done, suspicion towards Yeon Ho-Jeong would erupt like a flood.

Of course, anyone with a brain would know that Yeon Ho-Jeong was capable of killing his opponent without resorting to such unreasonable methods, but there was a world of difference between knowing something intellectually and feeling it in your gut.

‘Just what…’

A complex expression appeared on Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face as he stepped onto the pavilion and looked down at Namgoong In.

‘Just how far were you pushed to the edge that you would commit suicide?’

Namgoong In was not an incompetent man.

However, it was only because his comparisons were so outstanding; he was also worthy of being called one of the most powerful figures in the martial world as the hegemon of Anhui.

What kind of threat did such a person receive that he would choose suicide without even drawing his sword once?

‘What for?’

It was then.

‘……!’

Yeon Ho-Jeong suddenly recalled his time as the Black Demon Emperor.

Why? Why, in the midst of this sudden, terrifying incident, were past events suddenly surfacing in his mind?

‘……Something’s similar.’

There was a similar incident. In the past, during his time as the Black Demon Emperor.

The flow of events was different, and the people were different, but there were three incidents where the situations were strangely similar.

Yeon Ho-Jeong closed his eyes.

Jin Yang spoke with an anxious face.

“Chief. What are we going to do?”

He had left all the thinking to Seo Jeong-Gwang, but he had also been a part of the Black Moon Clan for a long time. In the first place, a stupid person could not have achieved the level of a master at this age.

He also knew. How much of a huge ripple this incident would cause. The moment Namgoong In committed suicide, he realized that their fate had been swept into a storm.

It was a situation where he couldn’t help but feel impatient, but Yeon Ho-Jeong was still lost in thought with his eyes closed.

Jin Yang was about to urge him again, but he closed his mouth and waited. That was all he could do now.

‘It was then.’

Whether he knew Jin Yang’s feelings or not.

Yeon Ho-Jeong recalled the first time a similar incident had occurred.

‘Hwan Ya.’

There was a warrior named Hwan Ya, who didn’t know who his parents were and had no name, and who, after learning martial arts by luck, named himself Hwan Ya. [Hwan Ya literally means ‘wild tooth’]

He was a warrior who followed Yeon Ho-Jeong along with the Five Great Martial Gods of the Black Demon Castle. He was a warrior under the command of Nam Su-Hwal, the Blue Hand Physician, who was in charge of Yeon Ho-Jeong’s escort among the Five Great Martial Gods. He was a rare good person in the Black Moon Clan, who was cheerful, responsible, and devoted to others.

However, Hwan Ya died less than a month after the Black Demon Castle was established.

The reason was suicide.

He remembered that he had looked particularly unwell for a few days before he committed suicide.

‘I asked him if something was wrong.’

Hwan Ya smiled and said he was fine. Although his eyes were dark and he had lost a lot of weight, Yeon Ho-Jeong simply judged that it was due to the accumulation of fatigue from overwork.

So, he told Nam Su-Hwal to order him to take a vacation, and Hwan Ya stayed in the Black Demon Castle even though he had gotten a vacation.

And on the third day of his vacation, he committed suicide.

It was a truly sudden death. Yeon Ho-Jeong was shocked, but Nam Su-Hwal, his superior, was in a daze all day from the shock. It was because he was also like a brother to him.

Hwan Ya’s death was a mystery that Yeon Ho-Jeong could not solve until the last battle.

That wasn’t all.

‘Pyeong Hwa, Wang Mu-Byeong.’

Pyeong Hwa died in the third year of the Black Demon Castle’s founding, and Wang Mu-Byeong died ten days before the full-scale battle with the Evil Sound Sect began.

Pyeong Hwa committed suicide like Hwan Ya, and Wang Mu-Byeong fell off a cliff and died from a fall after living in a drunken stupor for several days.

‘…….’

Yeon Ho-Jeong opened his eyes.

Hwan Ya, Pyeong Hwa, Wang Mu-Byeong.

And Namgoong In.

The flow of events was different, but all three except Wang Mu-Byeong committed suicide. In the case of Wang Mu-Byeong, no matter how drunk he was, it was unusual for a martial artist of that level to die from a fall. Because of that, there was a lot of talk about suicide or assassination.

The important thing was that all four of them died suddenly, in unexpected situations.

‘Why?’

The mystery surrounding the deaths of Hwan Ya, Pyeong Hwa, and Wang Mu-Byeong was never solved.

They were so busy that it was difficult to mobilize all their manpower. During Hwan Ya’s time, they were focusing all their efforts on reorganizing the Black Demon Castle, and during Pyeong Hwa’s time, there was a gap in their intelligence due to a conflict of interest with the new rising sect of the White Path, the Jeonggeom Clan [Righteous Sword Clan].

The same was true for Wang Mu-Byeong. It was right before the battle with the Evil Sound Sect, so they only suspected that they had been attacked by the enemy’s machinations and never came to a conclusion.

‘No, that wasn’t it either.’

War makes people exhausted.

They had seen a lot of blood to create the Black Demon Castle, and they had fought countless battles even after the Black Demon Castle was created.

In the end, they saw the deaths of the three people as being related to that. Although they didn’t know the exact circumstances, even a person with a strong mentality could receive a shock that would cause them to lose their ego due to an unexpected accident.

‘But…….’

It was always unsettling.

It was just that they had left it alone because it was an unsolvable problem, but it wasn’t that they hadn’t paid attention to it. At least, Yeon Ho-Jeong did.

As a result, it became an unsolved case because he was hit by Tang Gwan’s hidden weapon while fighting the Evil Sound Sect Leader and died.

‘Could it be, Namgoong In too?’

It was too much of a leap.

Yeon Ho-Jeong also knew. The probability that the suspicious deaths of his three subordinates during the Black Demon Castle era were related to Namgoong In’s suicide was virtually zero.

But why was he so bothered by it?

Was it a memory that came to mind because there weren’t many people who had committed suicide around him? Or was it really…….

“Chief.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong looked at Jin Yang.

Jin Yang said with a stiff face.

“Shouldn’t we come up with a plan?”

“……A plan.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong shook his head.

“There is no special plan.”

“But if we continue like this, we will…….”

“Wait a moment.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong took Namgoong In’s pulse.

Even though he had just died, almost all of his life force had already drained away. Even when a person dies, their life force usually lasts for a moment if short, and over a moment if long, but his body was already full of death energy.

‘……!’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes sharpened.

“Jin Yang. Check the pulse of the Namgoong Family Head.”

Jin Yang immediately checked Namgoong In’s pulse.

After a while.

“……What is this?”

Jin Yang’s expression was bewildered.

“This is fire energy, isn’t it?”

When hit by fire energy, traces are left in the blood vessels and meridians, as if the skin had been burned.

There were clear traces of fire energy near Namgoong In’s severed heart meridian. It was as if he had been killed by the penetration of a master who had mastered the Yang Fire Art [a martial art focused on fire energy].

“Was there a Yang Fire Art in the Namgoong family?”

Without answering, Yeon Ho-Jeong raised his head and looked at a distant building.

He quietly moved his lips.

How much time had passed?

Clunk.

From afar, the sound of a door opening was heard, and a master walked towards the pavilion.

Although he couldn’t see him, he could tell by his presence. He was a peak master. He was a true master on the verge of reaching the Martial Ancestor level.

He was quickly coming to the Family Head’s private room, but he stopped for a moment. It was because he couldn’t feel Namgoong In’s presence.

But that was only for a moment, and he soon quickened his pace and arrived at the pavilion.

“Gasp!”

The eyes of Seok Jeong-Pil, the leader of the Azure Sky Thunder Dragon Corps, the head of the most powerful martial group in the Namgoong family, were filled with shock.

“F, Family Head?!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong and Jin Yang didn’t even look at him. His face turned pale in an instant as he rushed to Namgoong In.

“……Family Head.”

Seok Jeong-Pil, who was staring blankly at Namgoong In’s face, turned to Yeon Ho-Jeong.

“You bastards…… what is this!”

The moment Seok Jeong-Pil’s killing intent was about to explode.

Whoo-oong.

The Yellow Dragon Aura, which had been released from Yeon Ho-Jeong’s fingertips, enveloped the pavilion. It prevented Seok Jeong-Pil’s killing intent from leaking out.

With just one move, he demonstrated the difference in their levels. Seok Jeong-Pil’s energy was shaking wildly. He was shocked by the death of the Family Head, but Yeon Ho-Jeong’s aura ability was so great that he even forgot that shock for a moment.

Yeon Ho-Jeong brought his index finger to his lips.

“Quiet.”

“……?!”

“There is a reason why I only called you. It’s because I don’t want to make things bigger for no reason.”

“Right now, are you saying that now!”

“The Namgoong Family Head committed suicide.”

“What?!”

“He severed his own heart meridian.”

Seok Jeong-Pil, who was glaring at Yeon Ho-Jeong with terrifying eyes, carefully checked Namgoong In’s pulse.

Seok Jeong-Pil’s eyes became bloodshot.

“That’s impossible! The Family Head has never learned the Yang Fire Art!”

“I’m just stating the facts. Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but the reason I called you is because I thought you were the most influential person here besides the Family Head.”

“……?!”

“It seems we’ve fallen into a trap.”

“Are you saying that……!”

“If I had intended to kill him, I wouldn’t have come here so loudly and openly. You know my martial power, don’t you?”

At that moment, Seok Jeong-Pil hesitated. There was some truth in Yeon Ho-Jeong’s words.

However, he was in great shock and it was not easy for him to think rationally.

“What kind of trick are you playing?!”

Emotions devoured reason.

It was natural. Anyone would be like this. If the Alliance Leader, Gong Gong, was found in this state, Yeon Ho-Jeong would have also grabbed the people around him first.

“I have nothing to say. From now on, I will move to investigate the death of the Namgoong Family Head, so I hope you will control the family warriors well so that they do not become agitated.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong turned his body.

Chaaang!

Seok Jeong-Pil drew his sword and pointed it at his back.

“Don’t move! Kneel down right there……!”

Thud!

“Kuh!”

Seok Jeong-Pil staggered, grabbing his wrist. The person who had struck his wrist was Jin Yang.

Jin Yang sighed and said.

“I hope the misunderstanding is resolved.”

“Y, you bastards!”

With that, Yeon Ho-Jeong and Jin Yang left the Namgoong family.

When the door opened, the warriors who had scattered to the left and right glared at Yeon Ho-Jeong with faces full of humiliation.

After looking around for a moment, Yeon Ho-Jeong confidently walked through them.

Until Yeon Ho-Jeong and Jin Yang disappeared, no one could open their mouths.

* * *

“……The sky is clear.”

It was quite cloudy to call it clear.

A man who had been looking at the sky for a while gave a faint smile.

“Farewell, Namgoong Family Head.”

At that moment, a servant’s voice was heard from outside the door.

“The Moyong Family Head has arrived.”

“Already?”

The man straightened his clothes.

“Let him in.”