Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1246

“……!”

Blood Venerable’s eyes flashed.

“He’s here.”

A powerful demonic energy surged from the far north.

Though not as potent as his father’s, it was a formidable demonic power, seemingly capable of holding its own against any of the Supreme Masters of the Saintly Heaven.

‘He has successfully assimilated the demonic essence. Truly, a member of the Cheon clan.’

How many spiritual creatures were captured and killed to create that demonic essence, and how many young souls were extinguished?

Even Cheon Wi-Ryong was nearly sixty when he fully assimilated such a demonic essence. Considering the current young leader’s age and the time he took to acquire the essence, he was twenty years faster than Cheon Wi-Ryong.

‘But it’s not enough. Experts who have reached the Blood Demon Realm are gathering from all over. Even the current Tang Clan Head…’

The thought of that indescribable dark technique still sent shivers down his spine.

If not for the Blood King’s Illusionary Transformation and his disciples, or if it had been a different technique than illusion, he would have been killed by the shockwave. Rather, it was because he lost his power that he managed to survive.

‘If I’m not careful, I might end up killing the last of the Cheon clan’s bloodline instead of saving him.’

Anxiety gnawed at him.

Where had the old self, who was better than anyone at controlling his mind, gone? He was only filled with anger and urgency at the constantly shifting situation.

‘How can so many experts of the Blood Demon Realm gather at such a moment?’

Blood Venerable looked up at the sky with eyes full of hatred.

‘Damn sky! Are you truly trying to bury us all?’

It was then.

-It’s not because of the sky. Your own choices are leading you to hell.

“Shut up!!”

-You are too insignificant for the vast sky to intervene using the power of heavenly principles. Even when you shook the Blood Cult in the past, you couldn’t save your own life. Unless you follow the path of nature, you will be defeated forever.

“I said shut up! Get out of me right now!”

Blood Venerable’s voice, filled with a desperate cry, was imbued with a terrible demonic nature.

It was the voice of a mad demon, with demonic energy seeped into his very bones. Even Ho Yeon-Hap, whose face had turned pale from the rough breathing, flinched at the deep demonic nature of the sound.

A mocking voice echoed from the depths of Blood Venerable’s soul.

A strange voice, as if fading and scattering.

-You will die here, in the Central Plains.

Screeeech!

Blood Venerable’s hand tore through Ho Yeon-Hap’s chest.

“Give it to me! Now!”

At that moment, Ho Yeon-Hap did not hesitate and shattered his own sternum.

Crack!

Blood Venerable roughly pulled out the beating heart from the opened chest and immediately consumed it.

Whoosh!

The sudden surge of demonic energy shattered the extreme stealth technique, Shadow Demon Body.

But it was fine. At this point, it would be better to take the power and advance alone.

Swish!

He could feel the presence of someone, presumably Tang Gwan, speeding up from the rear.

Whoosh!

Blood Venerable, using the Shadow Demon Body again, fled north.

Shortly after.

Thundering!

A shockwave that seemed to split the heavens and earth brought a powerful sense of tension to Blood Venerable’s entire body.

He had entered the battlefield of the fierce battle between the supreme masters, the Central Plains forces led by Sound Master Ha Eun-Gyo, and the last of the Blood Demon Cult’s forces.

* * *

Tap! Tap tap! Tap tap!!

Ha Eun-Gyo’s playing of the seven-stringed zither [a traditional Korean instrument] was incredibly beautiful and majestic.

The surrounding area was filled with her performance. The true energy of the Sound Flower Demonic Martial Art, flowing through the sound, maximized the emotions contained in the Extreme Secret Mad Laughter Song.

“Ugh!”

Even without focusing their true energy, Gang Ryang and Jin Yang staggered and distanced themselves from Ha Eun-Gyo.

‘This is bad.’

Gang Ryang hastily pulled up his inner energy, overwhelmed by the surging emotions.

Whoooom.

The Ghost King True Energy flared up, tightly gripping his wildly shaking middle dantian [an energy center in the body].

But that alone was not enough. Although the power to control the five desires and seven emotions and protect the internal organs was in the middle dantian, the effects would still reach the middle dantian if either the lower or upper dantian was shaken.

Since the different dantians were connected by an organic flow, stabilizing only the middle dantian would not free him from the surging emotions.

Zzzzzing!

He finally drew his sword and wrapped his entire body in sword energy. It was to fundamentally block Ha Eun-Gyo’s performance, the sound waves.

Only then was Gang Ryang able to fully recover his emotions, which had been on the verge of collapse.

‘Unbelievable. Is this the true power of sound arts?’

Maintaining the sword barrier alone was extremely draining on his inner energy. In this situation, if a sound wave attack came, he would not be able to counter it, let alone properly respond, and his life would be in danger.

Flaring.

Jin Yang was in a similar state of urgency. In fact, he seemed even more vulnerable in this regard than Gang Ryang. He had created a distance of over twenty yards and was desperately pulling up his inner energy to create a barrier.

At least Ji So-Hyun seemed fine. She seemed to be less affected by the power of the Sound Flower Demonic Martial Art, which she had realized through enlightenment, and because she understood her master’s sound arts better than anyone else.

Tap! Tap tap! Tiiing!

Pressing, bouncing, and then pushing out with elasticity.

It was impossible to understand how such a variety of sounds could come from a mere seven-stringed zither. She had achieved an extremely delicate control of the sound’s intensity through the harmony of true energy.

The mad laughter of one who had overcome sorrow echoed throughout the area. Just like its name, the Extreme Secret Mad Laughter Song, the harmony of sounds that ignited madness to overcome extreme sorrow was sweeping through the demons.

Flap flap flap!

The demons covered their ears and retreated.

Among them, the three in the front only frowned, but remained in place. They did not seem to be greatly affected by the sound.

That was all.

They stopped advancing and released demonic energy to create a barrier. They could not approach any further.

It must have been because the demonic energy was surging due to Ha Eun-Gyo’s zither performance.

‘Impressive.’

Ki Cheon-Woong’s eyes, watching her from afar, gleamed with light.

‘No matter how great the sound arts are, they are ultimately just techniques that harm people with the power of sound waves and vibrations. But this performance has surpassed that limit.’

When a master plays an outstanding piece, the listeners are bound to be deeply moved.

Listening to a cheerful song will make one feel excited and raise their heart rate, while listening to a solemn song will make one feel a sense of tension, as if they need to grab something right away.

Listening to a sad song will make one shed tears, and listening to a majestic song will make one want to shout with excitement.

Like this, music and performance have the power to shake people’s hearts. Not all masters of sound arts are good at performing, but they possess the inner energy techniques to move hearts with even simple melodies.

Ha Eun-Gyo was at the pinnacle of this.

‘The middle dantian is shaking, and even the inner power is being agitated. The sound of the performance alone has the power to disarm the inner energy barrier.’

In fact, the three hundred demons who had retreated while covering their ears were even shedding tears.

The demonic energy shield they had forcibly erected was shaking precariously. To avoid being swept away by this song, they should have pulled up their demonic energy even more strongly, but they were intoxicated by the sound and were reluctant to unleash more power.

This was the power of sound, the magic of art.

‘If I or Il-Wang were to recklessly enter, we would be captivated by the sound. At least not now.’

Ki Cheon-Woong looked at Ha Eun-Gyo.

Ha Eun-Gyo herself seemed to be immersed in the performance, her eyes hazy. Her hands moving over the strings were delicate and soft, as if caressing the most beautiful object in the world.

‘But in this state, she won’t be able to win?’

It was then.

Tiiiiiiiiing!!

It was as if a zither string had snapped.

It was an enormous force that shattered the terrifying melody. And from the fingertips of Ha Eun-Gyo, who had created that sharp force, a needle-like inner force was emitted.

The eyes of the young demon at the front flashed with light.

Clang!

He blocked the Finger Flicking Zither Strike with a palm strike.

It was a force comparable to a small cannon. The young demon’s ability to block such an intangible force with a single gesture was truly remarkable.

But Ha Eun-Gyo’s attack was not over.

No, it was just the beginning.

Tap! Tap tap! Tiiing! Taang! Tiing!

In the madness-filled melody, sounds that disrupted the rhythm erupted.

That sound was an attack. And even that seemed to be part of the performance, sharply stimulating the listener’s nerves.

The young demon’s hands moved like lightning.

Clang clang! Whoosh!

The power of the Finger Flicking Zither Strike, striking countless times over a distance of more than twenty yards.

Crackling!

Blue lightning flowed from the young demon’s hands, neutralizing all of that inner force.

‘Lightning?!’

Tick tick tick! Boom!!

The inner force of the Finger Flicking Zither Strike was sucked into the lightning that drew afterimages.

Ha Eun-Gyo’s eyes flashed with divine light.

Tap tap! Taang! Clang!

It was an unexpected attack.

In the cheerful performance, the sharp sound of the zither was an attack. Everyone recognized it as such.

It was different now. Even though the characteristic sharp sound of the zither was not heard, the Finger Flicking Zither Strike flew and struck the demon’s shoulder.

“Young Leader!”

Whoosh! Clang!

Two masters stood in front of the young demon, blocking the attack.

One was a middle-aged demon with a black longsword, and the other was a middle-aged demon with a white long saber.

“We will stop them!”

The young demon, the young leader of the Blood Demon Cult, did not answer. He simply glared at Ha Eun-Gyo with profound eyes.

The old man with the black sword unleashed a furious shout at Ha Eun-Gyo.

“Where did you learn such a useless soul-capturing technique!”

Flash!

He finally broke through the sound arts performance and launched sword energy.

The black sword energy erased the air and flew like a whirlwind. Even though he was already within the realm of sound arts, the fact that he could use such sword energy techniques was enough to place his name among the Saintly Heaven’s masters.

But.

Clang!!

The flying sword energy shattered in mid-air.

It was the Finger Flicking Palm following the Finger Flicking Zither Strike. Unlike the sharply piercing Finger Flicking Zither Strike, the Finger Flicking Palm was capable of suppressing the opponent’s power by covering a wide range.

The old man with the white saber shouted with a murderous voice.

“How dare you block the path of the divine, pay for your sins with death!”

Boom boom! Boom boom boom!

The sword techniques of the two old men, the black sword and the white saber, began to indiscriminately slash at the empty air.

Ha Eun-Gyo’s eyes flashed.

‘They’re quite skilled.’

It was a high-level martial art that severed the pulse of vibration. The performance of the Extreme Secret Mad Laughter Song was being shaken from its roots.

Ha Eun-Gyo’s fingers moved faster.

Boom! Tiiing! Zzzzzing!

Ki Cheon-Woong’s eyes trembled.

Ha Eun-Gyo’s method of responding to the two old men’s martial arts, which severed the pulse of vibration to nullify the sound arts, was shocking in itself.

“Ugh!”

“Aaaah!!”

The three hundred demons screamed and shed tears.

By adjusting the amount of inner force at the location where the pulse was severed, she made even the sound of the moment of disruption a part of the performance.

The density of the shockwave was twice as high as before. She was continuing the performance by creating an even greater shockwave as a counterattack to the disruption.

“Tsk!”

The faces of the two old men with the black sword and white saber turned pale.

The act of advancing and attacking was actually causing even more powerful sound arts. The two men were terrified and retreated, setting up a demonic energy barrier again.

Boom boom boom!!

The Finger Flicking Zither Strike and Finger Flicking Palm flew incessantly, attacking the two men.

It was a martial art that was impossible to approach. No matter which direction they approached, they could not escape the sound.

Although no one was fatally injured, it was a divine sound art that perfectly blocked the enemy’s advance.

Who would have thought that such a defense was possible? The two old men, as well as the young leader, Ki Cheon-Woong, and even Chal Geuk-Pyeong, stared at Ha Eun-Gyo with terrified eyes.

It was then.

Whoosh!

As if there was nothing left to hide, a powerful demonic energy was transmitted from the far south.

It was Blood Venerable’s innate demonic energy.