Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1301

Paaaang!

Yeon Ho-Jeong surged forward with terrifying speed, followed by a hundred warriors, the Hojongdae.

Even though they weren’t at their absolute top speed due to the distance, the Hojongdae’s ability to keep pace with Yeon Ho-Jeong without a single breath out of place was truly remarkable. In terms of agility and stamina, they were arguably the best in the Central Plains.

Huh Baek, the leader of the Ammu Unit, who matched Yeon Ho-Jeong’s pace, was equally impressive.

‘Something’s not right.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes narrowed.

‘The smell of blood is getting stronger. Could it be that they’ve already…?’

According to Huh Baek’s report, a group believed to be from the Three Teachings was rampaging in Shandong.

He had initially planned to send troops immediately, but something felt off. He had a premonition that ordinary troops wouldn’t be able to handle it, a feeling that compelled him to go himself, leaving everything behind.

‘It’s certain. This is the path I must take. The smell of blood is that strong.’

It was a path from Shanxi, south through northern Henan, and towards Shandong.

The world was vast, and it was impossible to know everything happening everywhere. Being in one region didn’t guarantee knowledge of what was happening there, and being there didn’t mean you were ignorant of what was happening in other regions.

‘Father must have gone through the same thing.’

Sometimes, his father had mentioned feeling uneasy, but he never knew why.

Now, Yeon Ho-Jeong understood that feeling.

‘It’s the spiritual energy [靈氣, *lingqi*] that’s telling me. The heavens are guiding me.’

To cultivate the upper dantian’s spiritual energy, the influx of heavenly energy [天氣, *tianqi*] through the Baihui [百會, *baihui*] point was necessary.

Of course, it wasn’t something anyone could do. Even a master of the Supreme Art could go mad or die instantly from an excessive influx of heavenly energy.

In fact, those who directly train their spiritual energy with the influx of heavenly energy are the sorcerers. Even they only select those with strong innate divine energy and carefully cultivate it, washing the upper dantian with extremely minute heavenly energy and slowly increasing their power.

Masters who had reached the Supreme level were different.

The level they had reached was truly worthy of being called half-immortals [半仙, *banxian*]. They were beings closer to the heavens than humans, so they naturally accepted heavenly energy, but instead of using it to grow their spiritual energy, they used it to develop their bodies and improve the quality of their inner energy.

Yeon Ho-Jeong and Yeon Wi were another case altogether.

Yeon Ho-Jeong had the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art, and Yeon Wi had such great innate divine energy that he was called a natural sorcerer.

The Yellow Dragon Divine King Art actively accepted heavenly energy through Yeon Ho-Jeong’s decades of enlightenment, his meeting with his master, and the process of washing away his worries. That was how he gained power close to divine ability.

Yeon Wi had attained the Mind Sword [心劍, *xinjian*] through extreme enlightenment, and the Mind Sword amplified his innate divine energy even more. Because his spiritual energy itself craved heavenly energy, his intuition and premonition had reached a level that surpassed even Yeon Ho-Jeong.

Perhaps if he hadn’t formed the Yeon Family’s Divine Core, he would have gone mad or his soul would have left his body by now. That was the level of his mastery.

Whatever the case, Yeon Ho-Jeong could now see the world through Yeon Wi’s eyes, and that power was leading him to Shandong.

It wasn’t an order from the heavens, but a calling. The heavens were telling him that if he didn’t go there, he would greatly regret it. That was the vague feeling he had.

If he ignored that intuition and acted, he would surely writhe in regret.

‘I don’t understand it at all.’

At the same time, he wasn’t a god. Even though he had become a little closer to the heavens, he was still a human, so he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Humans needed reason, logic, cause, and process.

In other words, it meant that Yeon Ho-Jeong’s intuition was so strong that it ignored all those processes.

“Lord.”

“Go ahead.”

“Yes.”

Paaaang!

Huh Baek, who had left the formation at an even faster speed than they were running, returned half an hour later.

“It is said that the number of those currently presumed to be remnants of the Three Teachings exceeds one thousand. Among them are those presumed to be masters who have reached the Supreme level, and they have already advanced to the foot of Mount Tai.”

Supreme, Supreme.

“What is the identity of the enemy?”

“It is still unclear.”

“Unclear? Are there no characteristics or anything?”

“They are said to be advancing while destroying everything in sight. Cities have been reduced to rubble, and the number of villages that have been burned and disappeared is countless.”

“……”

“The number of martial artists from Shandong who have been defeated in battle against them is in the thousands, and the enemy is still maintaining their existing strength, according to reports.”

Murdurous intent flickered in Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes.

The defeat of the Shandong martial artists was one thing, but the fact that cities were being destroyed and countless villages were disappearing enraged him.

However, even in his anger, his mind was working quickly.

“Shandong… yes, I thought it was too easy.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face twisted.

“These bastards, they didn’t come with a feint, they split into three groups.”

He had dispatched masters and troops to Shanxi and sent the navy to Jiangsu Province.

He thought that was enough. No, it wasn’t just enough, it was the most efficient. Splitting troops into too many groups wasn’t a good thing.

But the reality was that there were three groups, not two.

“Did they have more forces than we thought?”

The situation was what it was, but the reason Yeon Ho-Jeong had judged that the forces were divided into two was because he knew the strength of the Saim Cult to some extent.

During the Black Emperor era, the martial world was pushed back by the Saim Cult alone.

Of course, many things had happened beforehand. Many masters who had reached the Supreme level were assassinated, the Gwanghyeol Cult had almost taken over Sichuan, and the Sinhwa Cult had also devastated the imperial palace, so the power of the martial world was much weaker than it was now.

Even considering that, the power of the Saim Cult was strong. If you just thought about their total strength, they were more than enough to surpass the Gwanghyeol or Sinhwa Cults.

However, the war had broken out earlier than that time, so he had expected that they wouldn’t be more numerous than they were then.

Even so, he thought he had never been careless.

‘They even sent Sinhwa to Shanxi. That means there was no need to do a feint operation. It would have been better to concentrate all their forces in one place by surprise.’

Strategically, it was obviously better to concentrate power in one place. If the Saim Cult was going to use someone, they would use the Sinhwa Cult, there was no need to divide their forces.

Even into three groups, not two?

‘They definitely want something.’

The very existence of the cavalrymen possessed by evil energy was questionable.

‘They were defeated in the Shanxi battle. I don’t know what they want, but it’s clear that they didn’t get what they wanted. If they just wanted to disperse their forces, it would be good to see it as a success, but…’

It was then.

“W-wait a moment!”

The voice was unfamiliar, but the tone was familiar.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s group stopped.

Shortly after.

“Hah, hah! You’re, you’re really incredibly fast!”

“Are you from the Beggars’ Union?”

“I am the branch leader of the Beggars’ Union in Kaifeng, Henan! I greet the Black Emperor Lord!”

“I don’t have time. Make it short.”

“Ah, I heard that the Black Emperor Lord is heading to Shandong, so all the troops of the Beggars’ Union stationed in the central region are moving to Shandong! It is to support the Lord from behind.”

Light flashed in Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes.

In that instant, the Kaifeng branch leader felt his knees buckle without realizing it.

‘He’s a monster, a monster.’

He hadn’t even released his aura. It was just that his eyes had changed for a moment, but he felt an enormous pressure.

He suppressed the urge to run away and spoke in a subdued voice.

“And the Martial Alliance has also sent masters to Shandong. The Chief Military Advisor acted even faster.”

“Were there any masters left in the Martial Alliance?”

“There are more than you think. Ah, of course, the masters coming now are not officially affiliated with the Martial Alliance.”

“Who are they?”

“The Northern Sea Ice Palace.”

Surprise appeared on Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face.

“The Ice Palace Lord, having heard the news, is also coming in person. The Ice Palace’s forces, including the Second Palace Lord Mo Ung-Baek, are coming here following the guidance of the Hwaryongdan [華龍丹, *hualongdan*, a legendary pill].”

“Why are they…?”

“They said that they had been holding back because they had formed an alliance, but they couldn’t just wait when battles were breaking out everywhere. They seem to be more belligerent than I thought.”

That’s right. Both Mo Ja-Seon and Mo Ung-Baek were people who tried to get to know each other with swords rather than words.

‘That makes sense.’

The Sinhwa Cult, which was their nemesis, had suffered almost devastating damage. He didn’t know if the rumors had already reached the Martial Alliance, but for them, the main enemy was the Sinhwa Cult.

If the Sinhwa Cult was gone, then the Saim Cult and the Gwanghyeol Cult were left, but the Gwanghyeol Cult had been crushed by the Central Plains martial artists due to their reckless advance.

Now, only the Saim Cult was left. They wouldn’t be able to hold back any longer.

‘Even so, they were too hasty. I understand their feelings, but wasn’t the reason they abandoned the palace and came to the Central Plains to save the palace people?’

But what could he do since they had already left? Besides, they were also in a situation where they were short of manpower.

“I understand. Thank you for letting me know.”

“Ah, and one more thing…”

The Kaifeng branch leader’s face was filled with pity.

In that instant, Yeon Ho-Jeong felt his heart sink. For some reason, just by looking at his face, he could predict what he was going to say.

“How did the battle in Jiangsu Province go?”

“H-huh! Ah, did you know?”

“I’m asking because I don’t know. How did that battle go?”

The branch leader sighed.

“That is… the battle is not over yet, but it is said that the front line has been pushed back, unlike the initial momentum.”

“Pushed back?!”

“Yes. The estimated enemy casualties are over ten thousand out of a total of thirty thousand, but our side has also suffered over three thousand casualties.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face hardened.

Because the forces were dispersed, there weren’t many troops that could be sent to Jiangsu Province. That’s why he had sent eighty percent of the Black Emperor’s forces.

With over ten thousand combat-ready personnel, he thought it was more than enough to defend the coast.

But the front line had been pushed back. Considering that Yeon Wi, Gok Gyeong, and Yang Cheon were there, it was impossible.

“Were there many masters on their side?”

“That’s also true, but…”

“…?”

“That is… it is said that Lord Yeon was greatly defeated in a battle against the enemy commander.”

Woo woo woo woong.

The Gwangryongbu [光龍符, *guanglongfu*, a type of talisman] vibrated madly.

The branch leader stammered.

“F-fortunately, he wasn’t killed, but the balance of power in the master battle was broken, and they couldn’t stop the momentum of the enemy, so they had no choice but to retreat to the vicinity of Tai Zhou [泰州, *Taizhou*].”

Behind Tai Zhou was the Yangtze River.

If the enemies pushed in with their momentum, the martial forces would be in a do-or-die situation. It would be the end.

Moreover, if they crossed the Yangtze River, there was Nanjing. And in Nanjing was the imperial palace.

‘How could this be…?!’

His father was not one to fight recklessly. There were many variables in battle, but he couldn’t believe that his father had been defeated.

‘Damn it.’

He wanted to rush to Jiangsu Province right away. His home was there.

But…

“Thank you for letting me know.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong shouted.

“We advance again! From now on, we will head to Shandong at top speed, and those who fall behind will be left behind!”

“Understood!”

Another battlefield they were heading to, leaving behind their unease.

The Central Plains were groaning.