Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1184

A member of the Beggars’ Union rushed towards Ga Deuk-Sang, who was heading to Mount Ak at an incredible speed.

“Urgent news!”

“What is it?”

“It has been reported that the Black Emperor Castle Lord, Yeon Ho-Jeong, is heading to Sichuan with two commanders!”

“Lord Yeon?!”

A look of delight crossed Ga Deuk-Sang’s face. No matter how dire the situation, this was news that could bring a smile. Before being the Black Emperor Castle Lord, Yeon Ho-Jeong was a presence that inspired such feelings.

“When is he expected to arrive?”

“Considering Lord Yeon’s internal energy and movement techniques, he should arrive within five days at the latest, or three days at the earliest!”

It was an unbelievable speed, but as a master particularly strong in movement techniques, it was possible if he limited his food intake as much as possible and ran without rest.

Of course, this was only if he used the power of the Limitless Water solely for running. Even if he arrived within three days, he wouldn’t be able to engage in battle immediately.

However, the fact that he would arrive within that time was enough to be a comfort.

‘I’d like him to rest if possible, but now is not the time to be picky, so I can’t refuse.’

Still, the fact that Yeon Ho-Jeong was coming gave him strength.

“Let’s go quickly!”

“Yes!”

* * *

POW!

With a tremendous explosion, Tang Hyeong was thrown back violently.

‘Damn it.’

His hands were blackened. If he hadn’t raised his internal energy barrier to its limit, he would have been burned.

‘How can this be?’

There was no time to be surprised. His toes were already tingling. It meant that the lightning energy was moving.

Tang Hyeong unleashed the Thunderous Steps.

Clang!

It was like a real lightning strike. The power was probably no different from actual lightning.

The lightning bolt that shot out from Cheon Wi-Ryong’s left hand exploded on the cracked ground. It didn’t just end with the explosion; it roamed the area, displaying terrifying flashes of light before disappearing. It was truly a terrifying sight.

Flash!

Tang Hyeong, who had approached within three yards by using the Thunderous Steps again, unleashed the Plum Blossom Poison Palm, a martial art from the Emperor’s Poison Scripture.

Whoosh!

The poison beads that shot out from his palm instantly transformed into hundreds of flower petals, pressuring Cheon Wi-Ryong. Each petal contained a different deadly poison, including famous ones like the Seven-Step Soul-Severing Powder, the Gut-Severing Powder, the Immortal’s Bane, and the Yellow Sand Wind Poison.

Any of these poisons would cause hellish pain and make it impossible to use internal energy. The Plum Blossom Poison Palm was the highest palm technique of the Emperor’s Poison Scripture, and it could be said that Tang Hyeong had unleashed his true skill.

“Impressive indeed!”

With a voice filled with admiration, Cheon Wi-Ryong extended his right hand.

Black flames swirled and flew towards Tang Hyeong’s palm.

Whap whap whap whap!

Tang Hyeong’s eyes wavered.

The poison petals that had scattered in all directions were rotating and returning along with Cheon Wi-Ryong’s flame force.

It would have been fine if they were just returning, but the petals were exploding and evaporating in clusters due to the terrifying fire energy.

‘It’s not a force that can be erased by fire so easily.’

Tang Hyeong quickly withdrew his hand and unleashed the Thunderous Steps once more.

Clang!

The black flames that swept through the spot where Tang Hyeong had been struck the Ten Direction Wall [a defensive formation created by Tang Hyeong using his poison energy].

In an instant, the inside of the Ten Direction Wall pulsed with a faint light before turning black again.

Cheon Wi-Ryong’s eyes flashed.

‘It doesn’t even penetrate the Ink Dragon Flame Origin.’

If Tang Gwan’s poison core contained three hundred and sixty types of poison, Tang Hyeong’s poison core contained a thousand types of poison.

The sturdiness of the Ten Direction Wall, which was created by combining and enhancing the poison power and energy itself, was beyond imagination. Due to the unique nature of poison, it also had the ability to contaminate external energy, so even if struck with the power of ten, it would reduce it to six or seven.

While Cheon Wi-Ryong was raising his demonic energy again, Tang Hyeong took a powerful step forward.

Clang!

With a thunderous sound, Tang Hyeong’s momentum began to expand.

Whoosh!

The low-lying energy sank heavily and then hardened like steel.

Bang!

As Tang Hyeong began to sprint, a black dragon illusion rose beneath his feet.

It was the Tang family’s secret footwork, the Poison Dragon Sky-Shaking Step. It was an ancient footwork that could break the enemy’s momentum, secure the best position, and even cause poisoning symptoms with the emitted energy if one had mastered poison techniques.

Cheon Wi-Ryong’s feet moved.

Clang!

A technique comparable to the Plum Blossom Poison Palm, the Poison Dragon Raging Wind Claw, carved a huge groove in the ground. The carved groove immediately bubbled and melted.

Cheon Wi-Ryong, who had already evaded, took another step.

Hook!

Tang Hyeong’s eyes wavered.

In just one step, Cheon Wi-Ryong appeared on his left. Even within the Ten Direction Wall, he couldn’t track his presence.

‘Damn it!’

Clang!

“Cough!”

For the first time, blood spurted from Tang Hyeong’s mouth.

The power of the Twin Dragon World-Quelling Demonic Art, a martial art of the Blood Demon Sect Leader that the Cheon clan had modified from the essence of the Five-Colored Hell Art, finally began to overwhelm Tang Hyeong.

It was a peerless demonic art that abandoned three of the five colors and extremely amplified the remaining two, refining the extreme demonic energy that contaminated even the soul, maintaining the balance between man and demon, and ultimately aiming to surpass the realm of the gods.

The fact that he had finally completed the Five-Colored Hell Art, which was said to kill its practitioner, proved how great this martial art was. In terms of power, it was superior to even Shinma-rim’s Heaven-Breaking Art. [Shinma-rim is a legendary martial artist, and his Heaven-Breaking Art is considered one of the most powerful techniques].

Whoosh!

The poison energy that had been rising from Tang Hyeong’s body momentarily became unstable.

Cheon Wi-Ryong smiled.

“It didn’t go in properly, but you’re still holding on.”

“Tch!”

Tang Hyeong spat out blood and raised his left hand.

Whoooosh!

The feather needles that floated above his palm howled fiercely.

“That won’t work!”

Whoosh!

Tang Hyeong threw the feather needles at Cheon Wi-Ryong, who was charging forward.

In an instant, hundreds of feather needles wrapped around Cheon Wi-Ryong like a giant dragon’s claws. If even one of them pierced his skin, the penetrating feather needle would tear through his blood vessels and reach his heart.

However.

Whap whap whap whap! Whoosh!

The feather needles were useless against Cheon Wi-Ryong, who wielded the power of lightning and fire. If they hadn’t been imbued with Tang Hyeong’s Emperor’s Poison, they wouldn’t have even been able to get close.

Clang!

Tang Hyeong was thrown back again.

Crack crack crack! Boom!

The falling lightning struck the ground with a deafening roar.

He was repeating evasion and approach with the Thunderous Steps and the Poison Dragon Sky-Shaking Step, but Tang Hyeong’s complexion had already turned pale.

Thump!

His heart beat strongly.

‘Hold on.’

The heart meridian, which had been stably maintained, had changed to an unstable flow after being struck by the opponent’s attack a moment ago.

At the same time, his internal energy was boiling. Along with the pain caused by the heart meridian abnormality, his lifespan was decreasing, but on the other hand, his internal energy was increasing.

Cheon Wi-Ryong’s eyes flashed.

“Did you break your origin?”

‘It’s not that, you demon.’

Clang!

The pure power of lightning swept through Tang Hyeong’s body.

It felt like the Emperor’s Poison was scattering into pieces. The non-attribute internal energy protected Tang Hyeong’s life, but the poison energy that had been a thick shield was shattered and scattered.

Whoosh!

Tang Hyeong did not give up on poison until the end. The scattered poison energy seeped back into his body according to its master’s will.

Poison was the beginning and end of Tang Hyeong’s martial arts. Even if the enemy’s martial arts were so great that it could scatter, it would always return to the poison core if the master did not give up on that power.

Whoosh!

As the scattered poison energy entered the poison core, the emitted energy wave became even more violent.

‘He’s tenacious.’

Cheon Wi-Ryong’s face hardened slightly.

‘His internal energy is amplifying again. Can he show such power just by breaking his origin?’

He thought he had mastered all the principles of martial arts in this world, but that was not the case.

The opponent was someone who had reached such an amazing level with a martial principle that he could not understand. He was a rare and formidable opponent who, despite being clearly weaker, made him feel like a destined rival, something that had never happened before in Cheon Wi-Ryong’s life and would never happen again.

‘This is enough.’

Cheon Wi-Ryong shouted in a clear voice.

“You certainly have the qualifications!”

Zzzzzzzzz!

With a chilling sound, the lightning energy that had been dwelling in his left hand amplified its power.

Tang Hyeong felt his breath catch.

The already dangerous lightning energy was increasing in density. His left hand, which had been filled with a pure white light and was barely visible, was now emitting such an intense light that it seemed like it would blind him.

‘Is this truly a human martial art?’

The pure light itself, yet somehow tainted with darkness. It was a power that could not exist in the mortal world. It was worthy of being called a demonic art of hell.

Cheon Wi-Ryong extended his left palm towards Tang Hyeong.

It was the Lightning Dragon Descends Calamity, another secret technique that, along with the Ink Dragon Flame Origin, formed the Twin Dragon World-Quelling Demonic Art.

Flash! Clang!

The upper part of the Ten Direction Wall was pierced, and more than ten lightning bolts fell down.

The pierced Ten Direction Wall was quickly restored, but the lightning that had already entered the Ten Direction Wall was amplifying Cheon Wi-Ryong’s power and flying towards Tang Hyeong.

Clang!

Tang Hyeong couldn’t even scream.

He had momentarily activated the Melting Three Lives Art [a technique that allows the user to temporarily enhance their defenses by sacrificing a portion of their lifespan] to block most of the Lightning Dragon Descends Calamity’s lightning, but two bolts of lightning that had pierced through the world’s most poisonous and dense melting poison energy wrapped around Tang Hyeong’s entire body.

Fzzzzzz!

White smoke rose from various parts of Tang Hyeong’s body.

Cheon Wi-Ryong’s eyes deepened.

“You blocked that.”

It would have been understandable if he had instinctively dodged it. But a poison user had blocked the Lightning Dragon Descends Calamity.

Although he was an opponent who had evoked admiration and even emotion, for him, who was a fanatic of the power of the Ink Dragon and Lightning Dragon, this was an unprecedented humiliation.

“Let’s see if you can block it again.”

A suffocating rage rose from his low voice.

Whoosh! Flash!

The black fire of the Ink Dragon Flame Origin swept through the inside of the Ten Direction Wall like a flooding river, and the lightning of the Lightning Dragon Descends Calamity, which roamed above it, flashed madly, preparing to destroy all external objects.

Thud!

A blood vessel burst in Tang Hyeong’s left eye.

The moment his tightly raised beard and hair, and his staggering body, lost their poison energy.

Whoosh!

The lightning energy that had been heading towards Tang Hyeong surprisingly drew an arc and rose into the air.

Cheon Wi-Ryong’s demonic eyes widened as if they would tear.

‘A metal plate?’

The lightning energy was being completely sucked into a palm-sized metal plate that had popped out of Tang Hyeong’s sleeve.

It was the Tang family’s secret hidden weapon, the Magnetic Heart Cage, which possessed extreme magnetic force. It was a metal plate that allowed all of his hidden weapons to be sucked towards the opponent three times faster, and it could be said to be the culmination of Tang family techniques.

Whoosh!

The flames of the Ink Dragon Flame Origin, which had lost their lightning, wavered and lost their power.

Tang Hyeong, who was bleeding but still smiling, extended his palm.

“Even that is part of the Tang family’s martial arts.”

Whoosh!

The emitted Three Yang Poison Palm accurately struck Cheon Wi-Ryong’s chest.

Bang!

Cheon Wi-Ryong was thrown back with an explosion.

It was at that moment.

Hook!

The poison energy of the Ten Direction Wall tightened at lightning speed, creating an area with a radius of half a yard centered on Cheon Wi-Ryong.

“Got it!”

Behind the vanished Ten Direction Wall.

Tang Yu-Gwang, with a pale face, but smiling, shouted.

“I’ve captured him!”