Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1158

Surprisingly, the Black Dragon Blade hadn’t shattered Ha Eun-Gyo’s upper body.

The Black Dragon Blade, which had turned about twenty of the Hundred Lustful Ghosts into a bloody mess, was back in Yeon Ho-Jeong’s hand.

Sword control isn’t just about using internal energy to manipulate a weapon and kill enemies.

Sword control is the path to the Mind Sword. Qi [vital energy] is the fundamental force of the world that changes form according to will. A master with a firm will, achieved through extreme enlightenment, can freely change the trajectory of a weapon flying in a straight line.

Even though she wasn’t in her right mind, the Black Dragon Blade changed direction so quickly that even Ha Eun-Gyo was deceived. There was no way the Hundred Lustful Ghosts could stop it. The reason for the twenty or so casualties wasn’t their weakness, but Yeon Ho-Jeong’s overwhelming sword control.

In that moment, when everyone was horrified by the sudden turn of events.

Whoosh!

The blood-soaked evil energy emanating from the remaining Hundred Lustful Ghosts intensified.

At the same time, evil energy poured out of Ha Eun-Gyo’s left eye.

Clang!

Yeon Ho-Jeong was pushed back a full ten feet.

‘Trajectory.’

Ha Eun-Gyo, who had only been firing energy using vibrations, was finally using hand techniques.

It was the Stringed Heaven Maiden Hand, the signature technique of the Sound Sect. Despite its elegant name, it was a top-tier martial art that perfectly harmonized strength and flexibility.

The ultimate hand technique that could only be used after mastering the Sound Transformation Divine Art, the beginning and end of the Sound Sect’s martial arts.

Her hand slashed across Yeon Ho-Jeong’s Black Dragon Blade and White Dragon Blade.

Clang!

Ha Eun-Gyo’s hand technique was incredible.

Not only the trajectory, but the true energy within it was extraordinary. It was natural that it was powerful, being the power of the Ultimate, and it contained the power of destruction that created a subtle wall of vibration beyond her hand, shattering any ordinary force before it could even penetrate.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s hands moved like lightning.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

No matter how outstanding the power of the Sound Transformation Divine Art was, the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art was the culmination of the Four Divine Martial Arts and the end of martial arts.

Although they were looking at different mountains, the Yellow Dragon Qi, which gathered all the energies of the world, was truly the Middle Way. If Ha Eun-Gyo’s mind were clear, it might be different, but now that her spirit, energy, and mind were out of sync, her true energy was crumbling too easily in the face of the Yellow Dragon Qi.

Whoosh!

However, no matter how great the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art was, Ha Eun-Gyo was a seasoned expert who had already reached the cusp of the Ultimate before Yeon Ho-Jeong was even born.

There was no way such a strong person would just stand by and take it, even if she wasn’t in her right mind.

Buzz!

Ha Eun-Gyo’s right hand extended forward, creating a long shield of energy. Seven thin, long strings of true energy appeared on the shield. It was a seven-stringed zither [a traditional East Asian stringed instrument].

Her left-hand fingers began to pluck the strings rapidly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s body shook violently.

She created an invisible, intangible zither and plucked it, causing small explosions to occur not where the energy was fired, but at the desired locations.

The power of each explosion surpassed that of an ordinary fire bomb. Even though she had temporarily deviated from the ideal path of martial arts, the power of the martial arts she wielded was excessively great.

It was the martial god’s energy technique, unleashed at a primal level. The fingers of the zither-playing maiden were beautiful, but they were also a demonic hand that easily took the lives of those who faced it.

Bang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Boom!

All sorts of explosions erupted.

The explosions didn’t change depending on whether he blocked or dodged. Although there were only seven strings, the art of one string producing multiple sounds created countless sound waves depending on the position, creating explosions with different pitches and sizes.

The explosions alone formed a melody. It was truly an energy technique befitting her title as the Sound Empress, but the person facing it had no time to enjoy the sound and could only gradually break down and die.

A hellish artist leading her opponent to death.

Under the funeral march echoing to the River of Three Crossings [a metaphorical river in East Asian mythology representing the boundary between life and death], Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had been looking at Ha Eun-Gyo with a dignified gaze, strongly collided the Black Dragon Blade and White Dragon Blade.

Clang!

In that instant, the seven strings of true energy that Ha Eun-Gyo had been plucking shattered.

It was an artistic martial art, but even that couldn’t escape the eyes of the Yellow Dragon if it was a harmony of true energy. Although he couldn’t match Ha Eun-Gyo’s understanding of vibration, it was still a harmony of qi, so Yeon Ho-Jeong’s Yellow Dragon Divine King Art was superior.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had shattered the Stringed Heaven Maiden Hand, the Love-Death Zither Song, with a single blow, threw the Black Dragon Blade at the Hundred Lustful Ghosts once more.

This was also a secret technique of the Different Path, so it contained great power, but it was noticeably slower than before.

An attack that could be blocked if one tried. However, Ha Eun-Gyo couldn’t take her eyes off Yeon Ho-Jeong, and the Hundred Lustful Ghosts also stood still, staring at the incoming Black Dragon Blade.

As if they didn’t care if they died.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The rotating Black Dragon Blade took the lives of ten Hundred Lustful Ghosts.

Even though it was slower than before, its power was more than enough. The secret technique of the Mad Dragon Flash, which had shredded twenty or so people, only took ten lives and returned.

It wasn’t that the Mad Dragon Flash had weakened, but that the bodies and true energy of the Hundred Lustful Ghosts had become much stronger than before.

‘As I thought.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes turned cold.

‘They’re connected.’

At first, he didn’t know. He just thought that Ha Eun-Gyo had been manipulated by the Evil Sound Cult’s scheme, lost her mind, and entered the Central Plains with the Evil Sound Cult’s experts.

But the reality was different.

The qi of Ha Eun-Gyo and those demons who had mastered the Blood Sound Evil Art were subtly connected. It was a connection so subtle that even Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes couldn’t immediately grasp it. It wasn’t a connection of internal energy, but of the soul. It was connected by spiritual power.

Even so, it was truly amazing that it hadn’t been caught by his divine eyes, which had been trained with the Divine King Qi.

It was an unusual scheme. Although the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art itself was the ultimate of martial arts, he, who was lacking compared to his master, had not yet achieved a deep mastery of the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art. To be precise, he was in the process of deepening it.

Even his master had lost a significant part of his humanity under the weight of three hundred years, so the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art couldn’t be called an omnipotent power that could make everything possible.

Unless he abandoned his physical body and ascended to immortality like his master at the end of his life, there were limits to what a human body could do.

Whoosh!

The evil energy emanating from Ha Eun-Gyo’s left eye became even denser.

Her left eye was dyed a sticky, blood-red color, beyond just red. On the other hand, her right eye had lost its original clarity and had become blank.

Even if the number of Hundred Lustful Ghosts decreased, their overall power didn’t change. The surviving Hundred Lustful Ghosts inherited the blood-soaked evil energy of the dead, and each one was gradually accumulating more powerful energy.

It was a scheme that was only possible because it was a half-finished martial art. Most of the top-tier martial arts of the martial world had a nature of self-respect, so such a scheme was impossible. If it were the Demonic Art of Blood Frenzy, maybe, but if the Blood Sound Evil Art had been as complete as the Sound Emperor’s Martial Art, this would have been impossible.

‘That’s something that guy would do.’

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ha Eun-Gyo’s offensive became stronger.

She was still in a state of disarray, but the power of her explosive force had increased compared to before.

Just because her perfection had been shattered didn’t mean she could be taken lightly. If the number of Hundred Lustful Ghosts decreased and Ha Eun-Gyo’s destructive power gradually increased, even Yeon Ho-Jeong would be in danger.

While enduring Ha Eun-Gyo’s violent attacks, Yeon Ho-Jeong thought.

‘It’s not perfect.’

Ha Eun-Gyo’s condition either.

And neither is the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art.

‘But.’

The definition of perfection is different.

The Yellow Dragon Divine King Art isn’t a martial art that unleashes the power of a god, but a study that allows a human body to aspire to the realm of the gods. It is the end of martial arts itself, and the process of ascending to the heavens.

Then, what if that power could be bestowed upon someone?

What if it could temporarily show the path to perfection to someone who wasn’t perfect?

Just like how he left the seed of the Yellow Dragon Qi in Muk Bi, what if he left the seed of the Divine King Qi in Ha Eun-Gyo’s collapsed upper dantian [an energy center in the body]?

‘It’s possible.’

It was a sudden thought, but Yeon Ho-Jeong was certain.

However, to make it possible, he had to know what scheme Ha Eun-Gyo had fallen victim to, and he had to completely subdue her so that she could accept the Divine King Qi.

‘Before that.’

He had to sever the connection with those damned bastards who had mastered the Blood Sound Evil Art.

Boom!

Ha Eun-Gyo’s body was thrown about ten feet away by the White Tiger Strike, the White King’s Heaven-Shaking Dance, which he had used to exploit an opening.

An absolute martial art that covered a vast range. The heavy energy of metal suppressed her, and even Ha Eun-Gyo couldn’t get up easily.

Flash!

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes turned golden.

‘I can see it.’

He poured the Divine King Qi, which he had pushed to its limit, solely into his divine eyes.

‘That’s it.’

A pale energy from the leader of the masked group’s Baihui point [the crown point of the head] was connected to Ha Eun-Gyo’s Baihui point.

And the pale energy from the Baihui points of the other masked men was all directed towards the leader’s solar plexus and abdomen.

It was a thread of the soul that could never be seen without the mind’s eye of Yeonwi or Tak Mu-Ja. It was literally a spirit thread.

Thud!

The head of one of the masked men was blown away by a wind strike fired from afar.

At that moment, the fire ignited in the dantian of the Great Yin Ghost, the leader. Once ignited, the Blood Sound Evil Art quietly began to increase its density.

It was a scheme to forcibly raise one’s realm without extreme enlightenment. Yeon Ho-Jeong realized it at a glance.

And what made it possible was.

‘Ha Senior.’

Ha Eun-Gyo’s true energy, located in the Great Yin Ghost’s dantian, was acting as the core of the Great Yin Ghost’s martial arts.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes blazed with anger.

‘These bastards!’

Now he could see how the situation was unfolding.

The Blood Sound Evil Art was a half-finished evil art modeled after the Sound Emperor’s Martial Art. Even so, its power was great, and it was adopted as a protective martial art. If someone who wasn’t a descendant of the Evil Sound Cult’s leader mastered it, they could become a cripple.

They had completed that double-edged sword of a martial art with Ha Eun-Gyo’s divine power. However, since the Sound Transformation Divine Art was a martial art of enlightenment, it couldn’t be mastered just by passing down the secret formulas. So, they had taken a part of her true energy and implanted it in the Great Yin Ghost, and in the end, they planned to leave only that one to complete it.

Once the martial art was completed, organizing the secret formulas wouldn’t be difficult. If they returned with the weaknesses of the Blood Sound Evil Art resolved, they would spread that power to the cult members and endlessly increase the Evil Sound Cult’s power.

Since it was an evil art that was below the Sound Emperor’s Martial Art anyway, even if they reached the Ultimate with the Blood Sound Evil Art, they wouldn’t be able to touch a single hair of the Evil Sound Cult’s leader.

Ha Eun-Gyo had become a seed-bearer to increase the Evil Sound Cult’s power.

“…I was going to catch and kill them anyway.”

Whoosh!

An immense killing intent surged from Yeon Ho-Jeong’s body.

“That bastard really has a knack for turning people’s stomachs.”

Whoosh!

Ha Eun-Gyo, who had approached him unnoticed, unleashed her palm strike at Yeon Ho-Jeong. It was an instinctive response, charging in with a storm of killing intent.

Boom!

Ha Eun-Gyo coughed up blood and rolled on the ground from Yeon Ho-Jeong’s axe strike, fueled by his extreme rage.

Yeon Ho-Jeong roared.

“Surround those bastards so they can’t do anything rash! The Royal Guard, get out there!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gang Ryang, Jin Yang, Heo Baek, and all one hundred members of the Royal Guard surrounded the remaining thirty or so Hundred Lustful Ghosts.

Boom!

At that moment, Ha Eun-Gyo, who had charged again, extended both hands, but she was grabbed by Yeon Ho-Jeong’s hands and thrown into the air.

Thud!

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had ripped off Ha Eun-Gyo’s mask after slamming her into the ground, was shaken by what he saw.

Dark red blood vessels were all over the left side of Ha Eun-Gyo’s face.

A truly gruesome sight. It wasn’t just that they were connected by spirit threads.

It was a fact that he couldn’t have known just by looking at her eyes. However, the sight of the dark red blood vessels writhing reminded Yeon Ho-Jeong of a memory he had forgotten.

“…Gu?!”