Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1232

White smoke billowed from Geon-hyung’s body as he was thrown back by the explosion.

Beom Oh’s eyes deepened.

‘It won’t reach his life force.’

His internal energy, having received the full power of the Eighteen Arhat Formation, had surpassed the realm of a supreme master. [A martial arts master of high standing].

However, the level they had reached was different. While he could match the quantity and quality of internal energy, it was difficult to have a close match with a master of the Limitless realm, where everything from the body to spiritual power was transformed.

‘It’s said that even within the Limitless realm, there’s a clear difference between the demonic arts of the Sima heretics and the orthodox divine arts. It’s thanks to that difference that this much confrontation is possible.’

And another thing.

‘The Great Prajna Power.’

Along with the Boundless Great Power, the divine art known as the absolute secret of Shaolin was the Great Prajna Power. [Prajna refers to wisdom or insight in Buddhism].

In terms of subduing demonic forces, it was superior to the Boundless Great Power. From the start, the Great Prajna Power was a divine art that even monks with deep enlightenment found difficult to obtain. The fact that he had obtained the Great Prajna Power was proof that he had mastered both the martial arts and the Buddhist faith of Shaolin.

It was thanks to this divine art, which was difficult for even one person in a generation to obtain, and the help of the Eighteen Arhat Formation, that such a match was possible. If he had learned the Boundless Great Power, he would have been pushed back more and more.

‘Still, it’s difficult. Limitless or Infinite, it’s truly an amazing realm.’

Fwoooosh!

A powerful explosion erupted from Geon-hyung’s body.

He was shaking off the penetrating Prajna Power with his demonic energy, creating a shockwave.

Even if an immediate response was impossible, he could cut away the subduing demonic force if he concentrated.

It would have been better if they were both in the Limitless realm. But Beom Oh let go of his regret. If it was a realm he couldn’t reach right now, he had to deal with the enemy as best he could.

‘There’s no need to kill him necessarily. It would be best to kill him, but even just holding the leaders of the demonic army would be beneficial to us.’

Fwoosh!

A reddish killing intent rose like smoke from Geon-hyung’s eyes.

It was a killing intent beyond demonic energy. Even Beom Oh had rarely encountered such a vicious killing intent.

“You damn bastards, how dare you!”

Flash!

The crimson light emanating from the massive greatsword showed a great martial principle in itself.

Beom Oh’s iron staff moved quickly.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Thwack!

He blocked the sword light with five moves from the Shaolin staff technique, the Thirteen Subduing Demon Staff, and exploded the remaining power with the final strike, the Guanyin Azure Steel Hand. [Guanyin is the Bodhisattva of compassion].

Ugh!

Beom Oh felt a lump of blood rising to his throat.

It was an immense pressure. As if to say it was different from before, Geon-hyung’s sword technique, using all his might, was showing a truly mysterious power.

‘But I can still block it.’

Whoooosh!

He suppressed his internal injuries with the full power of the Five Great Strengths and raised the golden light of the Prajna Power.

Geon-hyung’s face contorted.

‘What the hell!’

His martial arts weren’t working.

Even more importantly, it wasn’t just that. The crazy monk’s aura, which was generating terrifying pressure with the power of the Eighteen Arhat Formation, was too much of a burden. Demonic energy was boiling madly in his upper, middle, and lower dantian [Energy centers in the body], and as a result, even his all-out attacks weren’t as powerful as usual.

Flash!

The greatsword, swung in a cross, was the fastest and most decisive attack he had shown so far.

Clang! Clang!

It was an amazing moment.

While maintaining the full power of the Five Great Strengths, he blocked the sword technique with the Thirteen Subduing Demon Staff without being pushed back.

‘Om.’

Crack!

The sound of the ground cracking under his feet echoed.

He tried to scatter the pressure of the demonic energy with the power of enlightenment, but he couldn’t handle it all. He instead received that unbearable power with the Diamond Immovable Body Technique, an ancient lightness skill. [Lightness skill refers to a martial art focused on agility and speed].

It was a momentary flash of wit. It was a move that would have been impossible without Beom Oh’s level of internal energy and Prajna Power.

Beom Oh’s left hand moved quickly.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Thwack! Thwack!

The Great Strength Vajra Palm, the Dragon King Gentle Fist, and the Subduing Demon Great Buddha Palm attacked Geon-hyung’s sword in succession.

Even though he was using different martial arts in succession, there were no gaps at all. The transitions between moves were extremely smooth, as if they were originally one martial art.

“Kuaaaak!”

Thwack!

Geon-hyung struggled against the terrifyingly penetrating subduing demonic force.

It was much stronger than the Dragon Demon Ten Swords used by Jima Hoo. Even Beom Oh, who was the opposite of the sword technique’s style and power, couldn’t receive it.

“Hap!”

At that moment, the Arhats swung their iron staffs.

They, who had been supporting him from behind, swung their iron staffs in unison. It wasn’t the Thirteen Subduing Demon Staff that Beom Oh used, but the Demon Subduing Buddhist Staff, which was specialized for combat against people.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

For Geon-hyung, who couldn’t properly respond to the immense subduing demonic force, the Arhats’ Demon Subduing Buddhist Staff was extremely burdensome.

He swung his three swords and deflected all those iron staffs. Normally, one sword strike would have been enough.

Beom Oh didn’t miss the gap.

Thwack!

“Ugh.”

The iron staff, thrusting straight in, landed squarely in the center of his chest.

That Geon-hyung, the leader of the Guang Blood Sect, was finally pushed back about six steps. The Flash Shadow Buddhist Energy of the Thirteen Subduing Demon Staff had landed properly.

It was then.

Flash!

The greatsword, swung diagonally upwards, cut through Beom Oh’s iron staff.

Even though he was being pushed back by the opposing force, the sect leader was still the sect leader. Even though he had lost his composure in the situation where demonic energy was boiling, his combat abilities, which he had built up over a lifetime, were constantly urging him to fight in a different way in moments of crisis.

“These bastards.”

Whoosh! Thwack!

The Guang Blood Sect’s Demonic Transformation Palm pushed back the Arhats.

Even though it was an opposing force, its power was immense. More than half of the Eighteen Arhats turned pale.

Whoooosh!

Geon-hyung’s demonic energy also had a terrifying penetrating power. If it weren’t for the formation power of the Eighteen Arhat Formation, their internal energy would have been scattered the moment it penetrated them.

“I can’t take it anymore!”

Whoooosh!

Red flames began to emanate from Geon-hyung’s body.

It wasn’t real fire, nor was it fire energy. He was completely opening his demonic arts, ignoring his internal injuries and releasing all his demonic energy.

But as if it were real fire, the Eighteen Arhats couldn’t approach Geon-hyung.

If each of them had been a supreme master, they would have already captured Geon-hyung. But among them, only four, excluding Beom Oh, were supreme masters. Even those had only surpassed the Martial Ancestor realm for about a year.

They could only retreat and confront him with their subduing demonic force. That was the limit for now. Even that was quite amazing, though.

“Even if I die, I’ll send you monks to hell before I die!”

“Don’t worry. We’ve already stepped one foot into hell.”

Beom Oh remained calm to the end.

He was composed, and the aura he emitted didn’t diminish at all.

“If we go to hell together, I will try my best to guide you there as well.”

“Can’t you shut up!”

Flash!

Beyond the greatsword, swung as if sweeping diagonally left and right, crimson sword energy rushed in like a storm.

Beom Oh’s eyes deepened.

Whoooosh!

He discarded the broken iron staff and swung both hands.

In an instant, his gold-tinged palms covered the surroundings. It was like looking at fully bloomed flower buds.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

With the explosions, Beom Oh was thrown backward.

The Arhats caught him, but Beom Oh immediately pushed them away and rushed forward.

Geon-hyung was rushing through the explosions.

‘Thousand Hands.’

Whoooosh.

Beom Oh’s hands, imbued with the power of the Prajna Power, split into dozens, hundreds, completely covering Geon-hyung’s sword and body.

It was said that there were insect-eating plants in the remote areas of Yunnan. Beom Oh’s hands were like that. It was as if he was watching a plant swallowing a giant insect.

It was the Thousand Hands Tathagata Palm, said to be the most difficult of the Seventy-Two Arts of Shaolin. [Tathagata is a title for a Buddha].

Fwoosh!

White smoke rose from between the covering hands.

Thwack! Thwack!

With the explosions, Beom Oh’s Thousand Hands Tathagata Palm was broken.

“Kuh!”

Geon-hyung’s face turned pale.

His whole body was covered in blood. The power of the Prajna Power had penetrated his entire body, destroying his skin and blood vessels in various places.

In a situation where even the demonic arts’ inherent healing was not working properly, Geon-hyung’s energy, which was already unstable, was shaking as if there had been an earthquake.

Thwack!

Beom Oh was thrown back, spitting blood.

He had poured more than half of his internal energy into the Thousand Hands Tathagata Palm. It was impossible to block the immediate counterattack.

“Abbot!”

“Senior Brother!”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

The Arhats swung their iron staffs and palms, blocking Geon-hyung’s advance.

Geon-hyung, who had managed to offset all those attacks with his demonic power, swung his sword to the left.

Swoosh!

“Beom-jeong!!”

A casualty had finally occurred. Geon-hyung’s greatsword pierced through the Eighteen Arhat Formation, which was said to be invincible, and took the life of the lively young monk, Beom-jeong.

He was a young disciple, with a bright future ahead of him.

Beom Oh didn’t waver. He hadn’t escaped the cycle of reincarnation to go to the Pure Land of Bliss, but he was a disciple who had stepped forward for the world, even breaking the precept against killing. Since he himself couldn’t go to the Pure Land, there would be a day when they would meet again.

Thwack!

The Subduing Demon Great Buddha Palm threw Geon-hyung’s body back.

Flash!

Another Arhat lost his life.

He was truly going to kill them all. Geon-hyung aimed for the Arhats while taking Beom Oh’s palm strikes. He had realized that the key to this battle was to break the formation power that was supporting Beom Oh.

Whoosh!

Beom Oh took a step back.

He had moved one step, but it was as if he had retreated dozens of feet.

Geon-hyung’s eyes wavered.

‘That guy is dangerous.’

Even though he had received the power of the famous Arhat Formation, and even though he had mastered a divine art that was the opposite of his own, the fact that he could inflict this much damage on him, who had reached the Demonic Saint realm, was incomprehensible.

In the midst of all that, he was showing an unbelievable lightness skill. Although it was not normal, Geon-hyung could not understand the identity of the lightness skill that Beom Oh had just shown.

And at that moment.

Geon-hyung felt a chill run down his spine.

‘Dangerous. I have to stop it.’

Just as he was about to kick off the ground and unleash the killing move of the Dragon Demon Ten Swords.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Heavy palm strikes, flying from both the left and right, shook the development of Geon-hyung’s sword technique from its roots.

It wasn’t the Arhats. It was an attack that had flown from outside the Arhat Formation. In the midst of it, it contained a much more powerful and terrifying force than the Arhats in front of him.

Geon-hyung, who was spitting blood from his nose and mouth, hurriedly looked around.

‘Shaolin?!’

The other pillars of Shaolin.

The elder disciples of the Gong Ja generation of Shaolin, who had gone berserk after seeing their disciples die, had rushed in. They, who had been boosting the morale of the Henan martial arts forces from the rear, could no longer hold back and had jumped to the front lines.

‘Even the elders have come!’

He realized that Shaolin had decided to deploy all their forces. He had never imagined that the elders of the Gong Ja generation, who were as rare as the Limitless masters of the Saintly Heaven, would come out of the temple.

And in that moment when Geon-hyung wavered.

He, who had moved urgently due to a sense of unease, was finally able to face the reality of that unease.

Whoooosh!

It was as if time had slowed down.

It was as if the air was being sucked into one point at a terrifying speed.

Geon-hyung’s eyes widened.

As the Arhats opened a path, he saw Beom Oh beyond them, taking a horse stance, one hand extended forward, and the other hand curled at his waist, preparing for a legendary strike.

Beom Oh’s eyes blazed.

‘I’ve got him.’

It was an unavoidable strike.

Although it took some time to develop due to his lack of mastery, the moment it was unleashed, it was an invincible technique that emitted more powerful destructive force than any other martial art of Shaolin, and it had locked onto Geon-hyung’s heart.

Thwack!

A ground-shaking stomp that shook the entire army.

With one foot forcefully slammed down, the power of the fist, creating a whirlwind, was being sucked into Geon-hyung’s chest with the end of the fist that was extended straight out.

The Shaolin secret technique, the Hundred Steps Divine Fist.

The power of the Hundred Steps Divine Fist, which had naturally passed through the Dragon Demon Ten Swords that he had swung reflexively, exploded in the center of Geon-hyung’s sternum.

Thwaaaack!!

With a tremendous explosion, Geon-hyung’s body flew more than ten feet away.