Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1012

Even as Gang Ryang spoke, standing by the shadowed wall, Yeon Ho-Jeong remained still.

Gang Ryang’s eyes narrowed.

“The sounds of the fortress aren’t reaching us, and this conversation is dragging on. It seems certain, doesn’t it?”

“…….”

“Besides, there’s some strange energy surrounding the building. Because of that, we can’t hear the two inside very well. Is it the same for you, Brother?”

“…….”

“Brother?”

Gang Ryang’s eyes widened slightly as he looked back at Yeon Ho-Jeong.

“Brother?! Is something wrong?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong was staring at the building, his eyes wide.

Gang Ryang’s words didn’t register with Yeon Ho-Jeong.

‘What is this?’

After arriving here with Moyong Gun and settling in, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

A sensation he couldn’t quite place or explain.

It was similar to the unsettling feeling he had experienced with Namgoong In’s suicide and the deaths of his old subordinates. The difference was that those had been a stench, but this was….

‘Why does it feel so familiar?’

Thump-thump.

His heart rate quickened.

His hands and feet grew cold. The area behind his ears felt hot, and his neck experienced strange fluctuations of hot and cold, causing bizarre sensations.

‘Why……?!’

This familiarity was clearly linked to a positive memory.

But it didn’t make sense. This situation couldn’t possibly be a positive thing for him.

What was he feeling familiar with?

Why was his heart pounding so hard?

‘My memory is hazy.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s memory was usually like a detailed report, accepting only what he deemed necessary and discarding the rest.

Yet, his memory being this hazy was unprecedented. He was someone who remembered the names and affiliations of all his fallen subordinates, no matter how many there were.

‘What on earth is this…….’

It was then.

Ffft!

The Yellow Dragon Energy within Yeon Ho-Jeong’s chest stirred and rose.

A strand of true energy leaked from his lower dantian [the body’s energy center below the navel], which he had tried to seal to conceal all traces.

The true energy slowly traveled through his neck and towards his head, causing a small surge.

“……!!”

Only then did Yeon Ho-Jeong realize the true nature of this familiarity.

“Water Dragon Divine Energy?!”

That’s right.

The water energy subtly surrounding the building was a perfect match for the Water Dragon Divine Energy.

It was a mountainous area, and there was a large well nearby. The area was also shaded by the mountain, making it particularly humid. Therefore, the concentration of water energy in the air was naturally high to begin with.

‘Is this really Water Dragon Divine Energy?!’

The Water Dragon Divine Energy, or more precisely, the Water Dragon Divine Needle Technique, was more of a sorcery than a martial art.

The reason was clear. It used the upper dantian [the body’s energy center in the head] as its primary dantian, not the lower or middle dantian [the body’s energy center in the chest].

The upper dantian, by its nature, was a place where it was difficult to store the power of any one attribute. All the energy gathered in the upper dantian was the power of the soul, called divine energy.

The power of the soul was in harmony with natural energy, and it could be said to be the purest and most natural power in nature. Naturally, it couldn’t gather a specific energy.

‘He’ was like that too.

The Water Dragon Divine Energy was not a true energy that resided in the upper dantian, but a form of energy that was immediately emitted from the divine energy of the upper dantian. It was called true energy, but it didn’t actually have the characteristics of true energy.

In other words, the Water Dragon Divine Energy and ordinary water energy were the same.

However, the unknown form that was manifested was slightly different from water energy. That was why even Yeon Ho-Jeong had only felt a sense of incongruity and hadn’t considered the water energy flowing throughout the building to be Water Dragon Divine Energy.

Decisively, ‘he’ was a person who disliked fighting and didn’t like killing. He had participated in unavoidable battles and achieved great feats, but he had rarely shown his martial arts in the first place.

He was more famous as the Black Dark Emperor’s bodyguard and the highest-level physician, rather than for his martial arts. He was an invisible hero of the Black Path who, along with the Divine Bow Muk Bi, corrected the identity of the Black Emperor’s Castle, which could easily be mistaken for a demon.

‘Could it be.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes trembled.

‘Could it be?!’

It was then.

Crackle!

Clear blue lightning flickered around the building.

It was a signal. Yeon Ho-Jeong immediately walked towards the building.

As he strode forward, Gang Ryang, Jin Yang, Beom Oh, and Sama Hyeon, who had been scattered and hidden in all directions, revealed themselves.

“I’ll go in first, so wait here.”

He said that without looking back.

Then, without even hearing his companions’ replies, he forcefully opened the building’s main door and entered the main hall.

‘Dense.’

The water energy was dense.

No, the Water Dragon Divine Energy was dense.

‘Unnaturally dense.’

Unless someone was artificially controlling it, the water energy couldn’t be this abundant.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s hand touched the door of the main hall.

Thump-thump!

His heart pounded as if it would burst.

And then, the door slowly opened.

In the slowing time, Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes captured Moyong Gun’s back and the figure of a young man sitting upright beyond him.

“……!!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes widened as if they would tear.

“You’ve come.”

That voice, that tone.

“This is the first time we’ve met like this, isn’t it?”

A person who wasn’t meeting for the first time said it was the first time.

After his regression, the past connections he knew, but the other party didn’t, all looked at him with bewildered eyes.

He was used to that reaction. He had grown accustomed to it. That’s what he thought.

But seeing eyes that weren’t bewildered, a face that was extremely relaxed, and hearing his words in a voice that was too clear, it was he who was rather taken aback.

‘This can’t be.’

The shape of his eyes, skin, bridge of his nose, lips, and chin.

From his neatly combed-back hair to his physique and the joints of his fingers.

‘He’ whom he remembered was before him, looking younger and more vibrant than he remembered.

“……Ham Mu-Heon.”

Ham Mu-Heon, the Blue-Handed Healer.

One of the five great generals of the Black Emperor’s Castle, the bodyguard of the Black Dark Emperor Yeon Ho-Jeong, and a giant known as the Black Path’s First Physician.

A man who always dyed his white hemp clothes himself because he liked indigo clothes, so his fingertips were always faintly tinged with indigo, earning him the nickname Blue Hand.

The last companion of the five great generals he hadn’t found yet.

Unbelievably, he had appeared as an enemy.

“Ham Mu-Heon…… It’s amazing. How do you know the name of the last successor of the Water Dragon Divine Needle Technique?”

Hong Ik-Cheon’s eyes widened slightly, as if he was genuinely surprised.

That was all. The smile that appeared on his lips, as if it were drawn on, was still there. It was an expression that wouldn’t change even in death.

In that moment, Yeon Ho-Jeong recalled the words Ham Mu-Heon used to utter in his unique, relaxed voice.

‘I hate fighting. I just like observing people.’

‘Do you want to do it? Then go. I won’t stop you. If you think it’s right to stain your hands with blood, I’ll just follow you.’

‘It’s time for your acupuncture. Roll up your sleeves as always…… Ughyak!’

‘……It’s because of me. Because of me, Hwanya died.’

His voice that laughed, was serious, was funny, and was sad.

And the words he habitually uttered, but could never be ignored.

‘A person goes crazy in a day, no, with just one incident. Isn’t that why both you and I have come this far?’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes became bloodshot.

“Ham Mu-Heon!”

“Did you perhaps sense the Water Dragon Divine Energy? That’s amazing. Even the strongest of the Saintly Heavens would have difficulty sensing the difference between ordinary water energy and Water Dragon Divine Energy…….”

Hong Ik-Cheon smiled.

“Indeed, the Overlord. You are worthy of being called the peerless prodigy with the greatest talent in history.”

“You are…….”

“However, if you don’t know the Water Dragon Divine Needle Technique, you wouldn’t be able to know the Water Dragon Divine Energy in the first place.”

Hong Ik-Cheon slowly rose from his seat.

Standing straight, he asked with slightly serious eyes and a serious voice.

“How do you know the Water Dragon Divine Needle Technique?”

How could he not know?

“How do you even know the name of the last successor of the Water Dragon Divine Needle Technique?”

Your name was a lie.

“Why do you call me Ham Mu-Heon?”

Because your lie was the truth for us.

“Do you know me?”

I thought I knew you better than anyone.

“Of course, I know you well. You are the one who…….”

The smile disappeared from Hong Ik-Cheon’s face.

“You are a greater demon than me and the evil god who created me.”

“……That’s wrong.”

“Is that so?”

“The demon was you.”

Only now did he realize.

Yeon Ho-Jeong could only truly realize it now.

The reason for his subordinates’ suspicious deaths.

The shadow that existed behind the history of the Black Emperor’s Castle, where the alliance with the White Path righteous sects was repeatedly thwarted at crucial moments, resulting in countless sacrifices.

On the dawn of the day they went to capture the Evil Cult Leader, Ham Mu-Heon, who had evacuated the injured Jin Yang and Seo Jeong-Gwang, took Muk Bi and Gang Ryang and went ahead for the first time, saying he would cut off the Evil Cult’s supply line based on intelligence.

Thus, Yeon Ho-Jeong, Moyong Gun, and Tang Gwan fought the Evil Cult Leader together.

And at that time, the Divine Bow, the Sword King, and the Blue-Handed Healer led the Black Emperor’s Castle’s strike force to cut off the Evil Cult’s supply line.

Indeed, did Muk Bi and Gang Ryang survive then?

Did the strike force that was with them, the Charging Black Panther Unit, survive without dying?

Did they really go to cut off the supply line?

He didn’t know.

Yeon Ho-Jeong truly didn’t know.

What is history? What is regression? What is time?

By regressing, has all of history truly changed?

Or are there two identical worlds, with only he returning to the past, and the existing world still moving forward?

If that timeline still exists.

In that world, how are my people living?

What has that world become?

“You called me an evil god.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s voice had become calm.

The boiling energy, the bloodshot eyes, and the vortex of emotions that had been erupting had completely calmed down.

Moyong Gun sensed an unusual change.

Because Yeon Ho-Jeong’s tremendous change was a greater threat than Hong Ik-Cheon’s identity.

“Hey, Vice Clan Leader Yeon.”

“An evil god means a wicked and evil god. But the evil god I know is different from the evil gods that gossips talk about.”

Hong Ik-Cheon’s eyes deepened.

“That’s an incomprehensible reaction. You are truly a unique person.”

“Since you’ve boldly revealed yourself, tell me your affiliation.”

“I think you already have an idea.”

“Where is your affiliation?”

Hong Ik-Cheon smiled again.

“It seems you’re beyond just guessing and are certain. Yet, the way you ask again to confirm is no different from ordinary people.”

“…….”

“It’s as you suspect.”

“…….”

“I am the mountain lord of the Shadow Yin Mountain and the seed of the one who oversees the sacred sacrificial site with the duty to spread the bloodline of the gods.”

“…….”

“The only one among the Evil Kings to have earned that title in the Central Plains, the thirty-eighth successor of the Uninterrupted Excellence who first received the evil god in the Great Teaching Hall.”

“…….”

“The one who is simply called the Third Evil King without a name meets the absolute ruler of the Central Plains.”

Hong Ik-Cheon bowed his head in greeting, as if to show off.

Looking at him, Yeon Ho-Jeong realized another thing.

History had changed, but the truth had not.

The people had changed, but the demon had not.

That this guy was the demon, and that if the demon called him a demon, he was willing to live up to it.

Crack!

From afar, the Light Dragon Axe, which had been held by Gang Ryang, flew in with a whirlwind and landed in Yeon Ho-Jeong’s hand.

“A dogfight between bad seeds, shall we begin?”