Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1266

Wham!

A single sword strike cleaved through a horseman’s neck and a soldier’s torso.

It didn’t end there. The power of the Violet Mystical Art, gathered at the sword’s tip, spread like flower petals, piercing the foreheads of charging horsemen and shattering the sternums of soldiers.

Delicate yet brutal. Brutal yet beautiful.

Never before had the Plum Blossom Sword of Mount Hua, a sword honed solely by killing intent, the pinnacle of skillful swordsmanship, manifested so destructively.

“There’s nothing to fear! Push through with force!”

Dragon Fist Master’s voice was filled with a vicious killing intent. It sounded more like a demonic leader following a heretical path than a Taoist of the Sword Sect.

However, the dignity in his voice remained intact. It was a sharp cry from the Mount Hua Sect Leader that sharpened the minds of those who heard it.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

The Mount Hua swordsmen, creating large and small Plum Blossom Sword formations, silently crushed the horsemen.

The masters of palm techniques unleashed Bamboo Leaf Hands, Falling Flower Shadow Palms, and Three Forms Fists, sending horsemen flying. The plum blossom sword energy that swept past them severed the horsemen’s necks.

Unlike Dragon Fist Master, they didn’t even utter a single battle cry. But they were no different from their sect leader. Their eyes blazed with killing intent as they slaughtered the enemy, they looked more like cruel warriors than mountain Taoists.

“Uwaaaah!”

“Kikiki!”

The horsemen made bizarre noises.

Though their language was different, it was clear that this was not their natural tongue. It was a deliberately made screech. They were making animal-like sounds to instill fear in their enemies.

However, the Mount Hua Sect, and indeed the entire Shaanxi martial alliance forces, felt no fear.

No matter how bizarre, they were less so than the Silver Phantom Cavalry, who rode horses forged with demonic energy, and they were not as brutal either.

Having already fought a life-or-death battle against the ancient cavalry, these grassland horsemen, though somewhat threatening, were not insurmountable foes. Their numbers exceeded the Silver Phantom Cavalry, but their charging power and martial prowess were no match.

Thwack!

The force of the palm strikes unleashed by two Mount Hua Taoists sent a charging horseman flying sideways, collapsing to the ground.

The horseman’s life was already gone the moment he fell. A swordsman who had passed by had slit his throat.

This was why martial artists were so terrifying.

Although the grassland horses were smaller than those of the Central Plains, they were still horses, and their weight was considerable. The destructive power generated by such a mass charging forward was difficult for even a first-rate expert to handle easily.

However, if martial artists who had mastered internal energy worked together in groups of three or five, they could easily stop a cavalry charge. If they were all first-rate, they could not only stop them but also push them back with ease.

In fact, the Shaanxi martial alliance forces, led by Mount Hua, were gradually advancing, freely sending the randomly charging horsemen flying.

Thwack! Boom!

The battle was becoming increasingly intense.

‘Strange.’

Dragon Fist Master, who was at the forefront, forming the Plum Blossom Three Talents Formation with the elders and slaughtering the horsemen, suddenly felt a strange sensation.

‘These guys, they’re tainted with evil energy, but they haven’t mastered any evil arts.’

They hadn’t even learned the basics of internal energy techniques. Their bodies, hardened by the harsh battles of the grasslands, and the advantage of being on horseback made them a considerable threat, but it was also true that they were lacking if they relied solely on that and charged recklessly.

‘Decisively…’

These guys didn’t seem to have any strategy.

Originally, war was about drawing a big picture and planning how to reach the destination.

After setting strategic goals, tactics were devised to defeat the enemy. That was the basic framework of war.

But these guys were different.

‘They don’t seem to be running from something. Nor do they seem to have any particular purpose.’

It was as if the martial artists were just another tribe.

They were charging around in small groups, as if fighting on the vast grasslands, which was a typical northern grassland cavalry tactic.

Of course, it didn’t work against martial artists. Strength, agility, reaction speed, techniques that could attack regardless of distance—martial artists were a source of terror even to horsemen.

Thwack!

Dragon Fist Master, having blown off the heads of three horsemen with his Plum Blossom Three-Pronged Sword, immediately used the Gale Swift Sword, tearing apart the horsemen who had approached him.

Wham!

Amidst the tearing flesh and spurting blood, a dust cloud could be seen in the distance.

‘Flags?!’

The horsemen were charging endlessly.

The Shaanxi forces were steadily holding them back, but there were limits. Unless they were blocking a narrow path, they would eventually be breached.

But the bigger problem was the other force marching behind those horsemen, carrying numerous flags.

Dragon Fist Master’s eyes blazed.

‘The Evil Sound Cult!’

They had finally appeared.

They were too far away to engage immediately, but if they focused on the battle, they would eventually confront them.

‘Could it be that they sent the horsemen to weaken us before the main force came to sweep us away?’

But something felt off.

‘If the real purpose was to weaken us, they would have attacked with a much more organized formation.’

The horsemen were charging without hesitation, even though they were afraid.

‘Isn’t this just a meaningless slaughter?’

Swish.

Was it just his imagination?

The evil energy emanating from the horsemen seemed to have intensified.

Dragon Fist Master’s Violet Mystical Art, the elders’ Six Harmonies Divine Art, the disciples’ Jade Box Divine Art, and the Great Purity Mind Method, all reacted to that evil energy.

Furthermore, the Shaanxi martial alliance forces, each with their own internal energy cultivation methods, were gradually losing their righteous minds and being tainted by darkness, but they were unaware of it in the midst of battle.

* * *

‘Strange.’

Boom!

The power of the White Lightning Spear was definitely on a different level than that of the Mount Hua Taoists.

Not only that, but the Single Path Demonic Sword and the Fiery Heart Palm, whose original purpose was destruction and killing, as well as Hwa Hyang’s Fiery Sky Blade, were also destroying the horsemen as if possessed.

‘They’re retreating.’

Mak Won’s gaze was fixed on the Evil Sound Cult’s army approaching in the distance, but his other senses were reading the horsemen’s movements.

‘More precisely, they’re avoiding us.’

The Three Talents Formation that Mak Won had formed at the forefront was like an impenetrable iron wall.

The advance of the evil energy-possessed horsemen could neither stop it nor break it. Naturally, it was logical for them to avoid Mak Won’s Three Talents Formation and aim for the rear.

The problem was that their judgment was too late.

Although not as skilled as martial artists, these horsemen’s movements were well-coordinated. Just by looking at their movements, it was clear that they were extremely experienced in battle.

Yet, they were only now avoiding the Three Talents Formation and aiming for the rear?

‘Something’s wrong. These guys are all out of sync.’

They had lost hundreds of horsemen by missing the timing to avoid the Three Talents Formation, which was being commanded by the White Soldier God.

Afterwards, they charged towards the rear and attacked indiscriminately, but even at a glance, they didn’t form any formation.

Meanwhile, the marching speed of the group that seemed to be the Evil Sound Cult’s army was excessively leisurely. Considering when the flags were first seen, they should have been within three hundred yards by now, but they were still marching too slowly within five miles.

‘They’re not pushing the horsemen from behind, and their attacks are too disorganized to be aimed at reducing our stamina. It’s like…’

Mak Won’s eyes wavered.

‘It’s no different from sending them on a suicide charge?!’

In the past, he wouldn’t have thought this far in the midst of a chaotic battle.

Having gained composure from his battle experience, he couldn’t understand the enemy’s movements at all.

‘There are two ways to interpret an unusual situation. Either the enemy is a mess, or the enemy intended it.’

At this moment, thinking that the Evil Sound Cult’s troop deployment was a mess was too complacent.

‘What benefit could they possibly gain from killing them?!’

It was then.

Boom!

The Fiery Heart Palm, unleashed with the power of the completed Middle King Demonic Art, instantly tore a horseman’s torso to shreds.

Mak Won’s martial arts were far superior, but the brutality of the Fiery Heart Palm was more powerful. It was a brutal and intense martial art that made Mak Won forget his worries in an instant.

“Senior, something is strange.”

“Yeah, your martial art is strange. Why is its power so brutal?”

Although it was said as a joke, it seemed that it was not a joke to Cheon Hyo-rak.

“The power of the Single Path Demonic Sword and the Fiery Heart Palm has increased.”

“Good for you, you bastard!”

Thwack!

Mak Won, having blown away another horseman with his White Lightning Spear, deflected the arrows of the archers heading towards Hwa Hyang.

“That’s not it. I didn’t specifically increase the output of my demonic art, but its power is increasing.”

“What?”

Only then did Mak Won seem to notice the strangeness in Cheon Hyo-rak’s words.

Not only that.

Whoosh!

The blade energy of Hwa Hyang’s Fiery Sky Blade instantly tore apart two horsemen.

Although there was a difference between palm techniques and blade techniques, their power was similar. Considering that the Fiery Heart Palm was considered the best palm technique of the Demonic Forest, Hwa Hyang’s blade technique had reached an incomprehensible level of power.

“I’ve been feeling it since earlier…”

Flash! Flash!

The demonic sword energy of the Single Path Demonic Sword, which he had lightly swung, once again cut through the horsemen.

It was definitely a more powerful sword strike. If the level of the martial art itself was excluded, it was a power that could be considered to have reached the boundary between a supreme master and a martial art extreme.

“The evil energy in the area seems to be rising excessively.”

“Evil energy?!”

“Yes. And it seems that the evil energy is seeping into our demonic arts.”

“…?!”

In reality, evil energy and demonic energy were similar, but those who were immersed in demonic studies considered evil energy to be a branch of demonic energy.

In other words, evil energy was subordinate to demonic energy. Unless it was an evil art that had reached its peak and established its own unique world, most evil arts could not stand up to demonic arts, and that was the reason.

Therefore, it was not too strange that the power of the two people’s martial arts was increasing due to the evil energy in the area.

‘Could it be me too?’

If the evil energy was strong enough to increase the output of demonic arts, wouldn’t it harm those who had mastered righteous arts in some way?

However, Mak Won confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his internal energy and mind.

‘It could be. Since all the upper, middle, and lower dantian [energy centers in the body] are perfectly in sync and boast an iron-clad defense, the energy of the heretical path cannot invade.’

Mak Won’s eyes wavered.

‘In other words, does that mean that the evil energy is invading the bodies of those who have not reached this level?’

He shouted.

“Hyo-rak and Hwa Hyang, defend me for a moment!”

Whoosh!

The Heavenly Martial Divine Weapon surged like fire, expanding his senses to the rear.

In that instant, Mak Won’s eyes widened.

‘How could this be!’

Why hadn’t he noticed it until now?

His body was fine, but the evil energy was so pervasive that he had become accustomed to it and hadn’t noticed?

Fwoosh!

It was as if gray smoke was rising from all directions. The broken and dismembered bodies of the horsemen were creating bizarre mirages.

And the eyes of the Shaanxi forces, who were crisscrossing through them, wielding their swords, were tainted with a terrible evil energy.

Mak Won shouted.

“Everyone, retreat!”

And at that moment.

Boooooo!

Along with the sound of a horn, the huge flags created a fierce roar.

The Evil Sound Cult’s army had begun their full-scale advance.