Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1140

“Impressive.”

Un Ja-bang, gazing at the construction site from a distance, was filled with admiration.

Even he, who was usually so reserved in expressing his emotions, couldn’t help but be amazed by the sight before him. He had seen all sorts of things while working as Moyong Gun’s right-hand man to restore his family, but this was a first.

“It’s magnificent even though it’s not finished yet. How many people were mobilized?”

Moyong Gun’s answer was so simple that it sounded even more terrifying.

“Fifty-eight thousand.”

“……!”

“That’s just the number of laborers. If you include the supervisors and the cooks, it’s over sixty thousand.”

Un Ja-bang’s face, which had been filled with shock, gradually began to frown.

“You wouldn’t be thinking of…”

“I know what you’re thinking.”

Moyong Gun gave a wry smile.

“I’ve used you a lot. I think it’s a natural prejudice. No, it’s not even a prejudice. I can see why you would think that way.”

“You’re not going to use them without pay or kill them all after the work is done to keep their mouths shut, are you? If you do, you’ll go down in history as a mass murderer.”

“Would I do such a crazy thing?”

Moyong Gun took a deep breath.

The air was clear. The humidity was just right; it seemed like the perfect place to live.

“I paid them twice the usual rate for this kind of work.”

“To all of them?”

“Yes.”

Un Ja-bang’s eyes wavered.

Assuming there were a total of 60,000 people, even if they were paid only four silver coins a month, that would be a huge sum of 240,000 silver coins.

And that was an extremely low estimate. If you included the supervisors and those in charge of the overall design, the monthly labor costs alone would easily exceed 300,000 silver coins.

And that wasn’t all.

When you added the cost of construction materials, various tools, and food, it was an astronomical amount of money being spent each month.

“I knew the Merchant Guild’s financial power was among the best in the Central Plains, but I didn’t know it was this immense.”

“I deliberately used more people. Given the circumstances, if I tried to save money by reducing manpower, the construction period would be much longer. Considering the variables that would arise from that, it’s better to use more people, even if it means taking a hit financially.”

“You might bleed to death from overspending.”

Moyong Gun chuckled.

“Of course, it’s impossible with the Merchant Guild’s power alone. There’s also the issue of survival.”

“So, there was an organization helping you.”

“The Martial Alliance and the Black Imperial Castle are also helping. Furthermore, I received help from the Imperial Palace. It’s too much money to call it a joint effort, but everyone’s help was essential to complete it quickly.”

Un Ja-bang shook his head involuntarily.

The Gangseo Merchant Union, the Martial Alliance, the Black Imperial Castle, and even the Imperial Palace were all funding this project.

He wondered if such a thing had ever happened in the thousands of years of martial arts history. The empire and the martial world had fought many fierce wars against foreign invasions, but they had never worked together to achieve a single goal like this.

Conversely, the fact that this massive construction was being carried out secretly showed how the Central Plains viewed the war with the Three Religions.

In the end, this construction site would become an unprecedented symbol, created by the combined efforts of all the martial arts factions, the empire, and even the merchant world.

“By the way, how are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard that the restoration of the lost Un Family Fist is almost complete.”

Un Ja-bang chuckled.

“I can’t beat you. Who told you?”

“Although I didn’t become the leader of the Martial Alliance, as the person in charge of the Merchant Union, I have an information network as good as the Beggars’ Union. I have ears everywhere.”

“Tsk.”

Un Ja-bang, with his arms crossed, turned his head and said,

“It’s finished.”

Moyong Gun’s eyes flashed.

“You finally finished it.”

“Yes. I finished it a few days ago.”

“That’s something to celebrate.”

“Its power hasn’t been tested yet. I can’t just grab anyone and kill them like you.”

Moyong Gun smiled bitterly.

“Right. You shouldn’t live like me.”

Un Ja-bang looked at Moyong Gun.

“It’s really strange.”

“What is?”

“When I see you working, you haven’t changed from before. You take good care of your people, and you thoroughly exclude anything that doesn’t make a profit.”

“I’ve always been like that.”

“But your change in personality is still hard to get used to. Honestly, it’s hard for me to believe that someone as proud as you has changed this much.”

“You’ve never believed me since the first time we met.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“It’s all the same in the end. Forcing others to believe is like planting the seeds of distrust. Unless it’s politically necessary, I’ve never done that either.”

“…….”

“Don’t try to see me as righteous. You just need to think about yourself. You and I just made a deal.”

That was the part that had changed.

Of course, Un Ja-bang had made a deal with Moyong Gun. But it was just a deal in name only; in reality, he was no different from a servant.

However, the current Moyong Gun was genuinely treating him as a business partner. When attitudes changed, relationships changed as well, and Un Ja-bang found it difficult to deal with Moyong Gun.

‘Well.’

In fact, he had no choice but to believe him.

Un Ja-bang had sensed Moyong Gun’s change from the moment he decided to build such a structure in Gangseo Province.

The reason was simple.

‘The Byeoksan Yeon Family is in Gangseo Province.’

And the Byeoksan Yeon Family was arguably the strongest martial arts family of the era.

If you only looked at their warriors, they might seem like a small, remote martial arts family, but the problem was that there were two masters of the Supreme Martial Realm in that family.

Two great beings that would make the entire martial world marvel. With the presence of Judge Sword Yeon Wi and the Black and White Martial Emperor Yeon Ho-jeong, who was known as the martial world’s greatest prodigy, the Yeon Family was, though everyone kept quiet about it, the number one family in the world.

Moyong Gun also acknowledged that fact, that truth. Moreover, Yeon Ho-jeong was Moyong Gun’s greatest rival.

To build something like that in the place where such a family was located? It wasn’t an easy task. There were so many people that it would be impossible to create secret passages in that area.

Decisively, while Yeon Ho-jeong was the first to bring up this matter, it was Moyong Gun who chose Gangseo as the location.

This was a project planned and executed by two geniuses, so it could be said to be a great decision for the world.

Un Ja-bang changed the subject.

“It can’t be rushed, so the Merchant Union in charge must be dying.”

“In return for taking on this task, the wealth that will pour into the Merchant Union in the future will be countless. It should be seen as a bold investment for great future gains.”

“Even if it’s a far-sighted investment, it’s useless if you can’t reap the benefits.”

“That’s true.”

Moyong Gun looked far to the north.

The northern lands, where a war was likely raging, would be filled with a different kind of wind than here.

“We will win.”

“Are you confident?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t even know how many enemies there are.”

“That’s why I’m confident.”

Moyong Gun’s eyes deepened.

“Because we don’t know how many enemies there are or what their strength is, there’s a madman who’s preparing every possible trick and is eager to fight, isn’t there?”

“…….”

“At least we don’t have to worry about the first battle.”

* * *

Master Mu Heo’s eyes flashed.

“It seems the enemy is dividing their forces.”

If Kwon Shin said so, then it was so.

Peng Mu-gang’s expression changed.

“It seems they’re trying some trick. But…”

Everything was visible.

Yeon Wi used artillery to blow away a hill that was blocking their view. Thanks to that, unless the enemy retreated beyond a hundred miles, their movements were completely exposed to the allied forces.

Peng Mu-gang smiled and turned to Yeon Wi.

“Yeon Family Head’s prediction…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

Whoooom!

Yeon Wi’s eyes were emitting a faint light.

The color was different from before. The blue glow unique to the Sword Demon Qi would appear, then naturally change to a light green.

It was a mystical sight. At least, it didn’t seem like there was anything wrong with his body.

“Yeon Family Head?”

Whoooom.

Yeon Wi, who had controlled his divine energy, nodded.

“I saw it too.”

“Is there a problem?”

“No.”

It was a problem, and it was also a relief.

‘The Yeon Family Divine Core.’

Yeon Wi was inwardly very surprised.

The Yeon Family Divine Core that he had unknowingly formed during his battle with Chal Geuk-pyeong. He hadn’t known until now, but when he focused his mind to refine his divine energy, he realized that a small core had formed on his forehead.

‘It wasn’t created suddenly. The preparation for it was already there.’

The foundation had already been laid before he even engaged the enemy. He hadn’t realized it because he was too focused on the enemy.

‘The fact that I instinctively recalled all the formulas of the Five Great Divine Arts at that time was not a coincidence but a necessity.’

It was a relief. But he was puzzled.

‘I never imagined the Yeon Family Divine Core.’

From the beginning, he had no interest in the Yeon Family Divine Core itself.

He thought he didn’t have the talent for it, and his interest was in the sword. Rather than mastering various martial arts like his son to understand the principles of martial arts, he tried to understand the world by putting his life into a single sword.

Moreover, the Yeon Family Divine Core was located in the upper dantian [an energy center in the body]?

A core was a condensation of true qi [internal energy]. It was a way to condense invisible energy, like the inner core of a spirit beast.

But the fact that it was located in the upper dantian, not the lower or middle dantian, which were filled with abundant true qi, meant that his divine energy had an unparalleled density.

‘Either way, it’s a good thing.’

Forming the Yeon Family Divine Core didn’t mean he could use a stronger sword control or mind sword. However, he could prevent himself from feeling uneasy or using his divine energy more excessively than he had intended. In other words, he could control the energy of his upper dantian more sensitively than anyone else.

It wasn’t just about developing a stronger output or a sharper swordsmanship. By controlling his upper dantian’s divine energy with the Yeon Family Divine Core, Yeon Wi could be considered to have become stronger.

And that fact wasn’t that important to Yeon Wi right now.

“The fact that an opponent who has been attacking with force is now dividing their forces means they have some kind of tactic. And the fact that the enemy is using a tactic they haven’t used before means…”

Whoosh!

A powerful energy wave surged from the southwest in the distance.

The energy wave was felt before the sound of hooves or vibrations. That meant the battle with the enemy was fierce.

A smile spread across Yeon Wi’s face.

“It means our forces have won the battle in the western part of the Imperial Palace.”

Master Mu Heo used the Vajra Immovable Body Technique to move to a place where he could see the western part of the Imperial Palace.

After a while, he returned with a smile on his face.

“The Commander-in-Chief is rushing over with the cavalry.”

“Given the location, the retreating forces of the Divine Flame Church would have seen Ho-jeong’s charge first.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Until now, it was a battle to defend the Imperial Palace. But now that the western battle has ended in victory, it’s important to keep the enemies as far away from here as possible.”

“Does that mean?”

“From now on, we attack.”

Yeon Wi mounted his horse and shouted.

“The western battle has ended in victory! We will annihilate the remnants with our allies! Prepare to advance!”