Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1323

The bead weeps.

Within the Soul-Capturing Demonic Formation, built upon one hundred and eight living souls, the Saok [a ritualistic artifact], which was only eighty percent complete, was emitting a wail.

‘It’s working.’

Agitation flickered across the face of the Evil Sorcerer.

‘It’s actually working.’

At first, he was doubtful. No matter how much the Lord’s theology had reached its peak and how well-versed he was in all kinds of sorcery, he hadn’t truly believed that they could draw the essence of Mount Tai to complete the Soul-Capturing Demonic Formation.

But it was possible. The Lord’s divine eye was not mistaken.

Kuurrrruuung.

The essence of Mount Tai was gathering.

The power of the Mount Tai spirit, possessing the depth of the sea and the vastness of a cloudless sky, was being sucked into the Soul-Capturing Demonic Formation.

‘With this, the foundation is laid.’

One of the Heaven-Defying Beads was broken, but the essence of Mount Tai could replace one bead.

Of course, this work would only be meaningful if the Lord himself came here and turned the three beads into one Heaven-Defying Divine Bead, but the Evil Sorcerer had no doubt.

No matter who the fated rival from the heavens was, there was no being that could stand in the way of the Evil God.

Whirr!

The Evil Sorcerer looked up at the sky.

A hot energy, invisible to the eyes of ordinary martial artists, was gathering, visible only to the eyes of a sorcerer whose upper dantian [an energy center in the body] was extremely developed.

‘Fire Jade!’

The Saok was calling for the Fire Jade.

The completed Fire Jade, like the nature of fire, was unique in that it could freely change its form. It was the only bead among the Heaven-Defying Beads that could never be broken by physical force.

‘The essence of the Fire Jade is gathering! The Heaven-Defying Divine Bead is truly being created here!’

Kuurrrruuung! Kuurrrruuung!

In the distance, a small peak at the foot of Mount Tai shook, emitting a bizarre sound.

It was a ley line collapse. The land, having its circulating earth energy stolen, was collapsing on its own.

From now on, that land would be dead even if it didn’t collapse. Not a single blade of grass would grow, and no animals would pass through. It had become a dead mountain where even the falling rain could not draw out life.

A mad smile appeared on the Evil Sorcerer’s face.

“Everything is as the god wills.”

It was then.

Kwaang!

In that distant place, hidden by the sea of clouds.

Even in the darkening world, the roar of the battle that had not yet ended sounded like the screams of Mount Tai itself.

* * *

Fwoooosh!

The spurting blood appeared to move in slow motion.

The blood, scattering and then merging, merging and then writhing and scattering again, was like watching a world that was unified and then torn apart.

Kwakwakwang!!

His two legs, trying to steady his retreating body, felt foreign.

‘This is the first time.’

His whole body was a mess. Even with the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art intact, his body couldn’t withstand it.

Even with a body that had reached the peak of the Supreme and a physique that had reached perfection, he couldn’t withstand the attacks of the greatest evil of all time, who was displaying the might of the Blood God’s Descent.

‘Such a martial art existed?’

Yeon Ho-jeong strained his blurring eyes.

He was coming. The Evil God.

The Evil God, the God of Death. The merciless one, with both hands filled with red energy, was rushing towards him with an expressionless face.

Even though his speed easily surpassed the speed of sound, there was no sonic boom.

Seeing the Evil God, who was directly defying the laws of nature, Yeon Ho-jeong’s spirit, sharpened to its peak, became even more keen.

‘Soul Severance.’

The moment his will surged, the Mad Dragon Axe had already unleashed a diagonal slash.

Soul Severing Mad Dragon. The seventh move of the Mad Dragon Art, and Yeon Ho-jeong’s strongest strike, excluding the incomplete move.

Whoosh!

With a silent explosion, the external objects in front vanished into light.

Even before the Soul Severing Mad Dragon’s slash was finished, Yeon Ho-jeong realized. This strike was a failure.

‘He’s coming.’

It was clear he had dodged, but he was still rushing straight at him. How he had dodged was not even caught by Yeon Ho-jeong’s divine eyes.

Sa Mun-hyang’s hand touched Yeon Ho-jeong’s chest.

Bang!

It was powerful.

For a moment, his vision went white. Even at this moment, his mental strength was becoming sharper and stronger, but the impact was so great that it made that focus and fortitude seem like nothing.

While spitting out blood and retreating, Yeon Ho-jeong thought.

‘How did we catch a guy like this?’

He couldn’t believe that he, Moyong Gun, and Tang Gwan had caught this guy in the past.

‘He didn’t use this martial art back then.’

It was called the Blood Emperor Art.

He couldn’t understand what kind of martial art it was. It was just incredibly fast and incredibly strong. That was all.

In a way, this was also a supreme martial art.

There were countless principles of martial arts, but ultimately, the truth was simple.

If you were relatively faster, you could cut down the enemy before you died.

If you were relatively stronger, you could ignore the opponent’s power and win.

It was common sense that being faster and stronger was superior. However, many martial arts in the Central Plains had gained superiority by using tricks like ‘striking after the opponent’ and ‘shifting flowers and grafting trees’ [techniques that redirect an opponent’s force] to ignore speed and strength.

However, against an opponent who didn’t allow for striking after the opponent and ignored shifting flowers and grafting trees, they were just a bunch of useless techniques.

Sa Mun-hyang’s martial art was exactly like that. It was simply fast and strong. But its speed and power were beyond the norm.

In a way, even Tak Mu-ja, the pinnacle of the Wudang Sect, which possessed a more sophisticated martial art than the Shaolin, would have difficulty reacting to this speed and power.

‘Was he unable to use it? Or was he unwilling to use it?’

Even as he pondered, the Mad Dragon Axe moved ceaselessly.

Yeon Ho-jeong, who broke through his limits every time he fought a strong opponent, was the same this time. He couldn’t remember when he had swung the Mad Dragon Axe so fast and so powerfully.

Bang! Pang!

Sa Mun-hyang’s response was astonishing.

It was even more astonishing because it wasn’t an action that could be called a response. He was casually deflecting the Mad Dragon Axe’s blade with his hand, which was filled with a reddish energy, and each time, the power of the Soul Severing Mad Dragon was shattered and scattered into the air.

“Good.”

It was a realm where sound could not be heard. Yet, Sa Mun-hyang’s voice was audible.

He couldn’t tell if it was his real voice or if the sound he was emitting from his mind was being heard by his ears.

“To respond this much in front of the Blood Emperor Art. Even if it is the martial art of a madman, it wouldn’t be easy. Truly, it is instinct.”

Booooooom!!

A white gust of wind flew from somewhere, aiming for the back of Sa Mun-hyang’s head.

It was the rotating White Dragon Axe, a strike of the Mad Dragon Flash.

Sa Mun-hyang coldly swung his arm. It wasn’t even a swing towards the back, it was more like he was just flailing in the air.

Yet, the White Dragon Axe flew past Sa Mun-hyang’s head and soared into the air. There was no shockwave from the explosive force. It had literally lost its power and flown away.

At that moment, Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes flashed.

Thud!

A terrible pain surged up his spine.

Four of Sa Mun-hyang’s fingers pierced through his side. The moment he felt the chilling sensation, his entire body began to go numb.

Woo-oong!

The Yellow Dragon Qi [internal energy] struggled.

The true energy wouldn’t move. It was as if he had been poisoned by a paralyzing toxin, everything from his body to his inner energy had stopped.

Sa Mun-hyang smiled.

“This is the end.”

Was it really?

Trickle.

The blood flowing down his hand stained the floor.

It was a nasty feeling. The fingers of the merciless one were touching his internal organs.

That alone was as good as having one foot in the grave. It wasn’t impossible to repair the wound with extreme inner energy, but he couldn’t afford to expend that much inner energy against an enemy who was difficult to defeat even when fighting with all his might.

In the end, he had suffered a fatal blow.

“An amazing body. I wonder how it was trained to this extent. This is the first time I’ve seen a body as well-trained as Jeok Heum’s.”

Sa Mun-hyang’s fingers twitched.

Yeon Ho-jeong’s face turned pale.

It felt like all the blood in his body was flowing in reverse. He tried to control it with the Yellow Dragon Qi, but it wouldn’t move.

“It’s truly a body I desire. If I had been born with a body like yours, I wouldn’t have had to take such a long detour.”

Sa Mun-hyang’s face turned cold again.

“Farewell, my fated rival.”

It was then.

Whoosh!

From high in the sky, something pure white poured down like lightning.

“……!”

Sa Mun-hyang’s eyes widened.

Yeon Ho-jeong’s hand, slowly rising and grabbing his wrist, was trembling slightly.

He couldn’t exert much strength. But the important thing was that it had moved.

‘It broke free from the Blood Emperor Qi’s control?!’

Not just his hand, but even more surprising was the White Dragon Axe rotating above his head.

Woo-oong!!

The White Dragon Axe, rotating at high speed, emitted a terrifying killing intent above Sa Mun-hyang’s crown. It looked like it would plunge down and crush his head at any moment.

But it wouldn’t move any further. It was as if it was blocked by something, just rotating fiercely in place.

It was a move of ‘controlling with Qi’. The fourth move of the Mad Dragon Art, the Mad Wind Flash, was still being maintained.

“…It was a mistake.”

He could even speak?

Having lived for hundreds of years and experienced all kinds of pleasure and joy, he had become numb to the emotion of surprise.

But today, it felt like he was the most surprised he had been in nearly two hundred years.

“It was a mistake to touch my body.”

The strength in Yeon Ho-jeong’s hand, which was holding Sa Mun-hyang’s wrist, was gradually increasing.

The Yellow Dragon Qi was writhing. His strength was returning.

Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes were dyed a brilliant gold.

“To desire to become a god, that means you are human.”

Those who have already become gods do not need to yearn to become gods. Only humans yearn to become gods. Even though they know it is an unreachable realm.

“But like you, it is possible for a human to unleash power that has reached the realm of the gods.”

As the Yellow Dragon Qi moved, the Divine King Qi, which had been gradually losing speed, began to rotate fiercely again.

At the same time, the darkened world stretched wide open again. Things that were invisible, things that should not be seen, were all visible.

“It was a good Mind Sword.”

Sa Mun-hyang’s face hardened.

Kwarururung!!

The White Dragon Axe descended another inch. Even moving that one inch caused a thunderous sound.

Controlling a sword with the mind was the supreme realm of sword control, and those who had reached sword control were on the verge of mastering the Mind Sword. Yeon Ho-jeong was already instinctively using the Mind Sword.

And now, that Mind Sword was taking shape.

Now that he realized that Sa Mun-hyang, the greatest adversary of his life, was using the Mind Sword in a very clever and unconventional way, Yeon Ho-jeong’s Mind Sword was also evolving.

The reason why Yeon Ho-jeong couldn’t see Sa Mun-hyang’s movements was because Sa Mun-hyang was using a Mind Sword that lowered his perception.

The reason why Sa Mun-hyang’s martial art was so fast and powerful was because he, like Yeon Ho-jeong, had increased the destructive power of his inner energy by using the mysteries of the Mind Sword.

Furthermore, the act of inserting his hand into his abdomen and directly depriving Yeon Ho-jeong of his true energy and physical freedom was also the Mind Sword.

It was because he had realized the Mind Sword that he could contain so many souls in his body, and it was because he had realized the Mind Sword that he could heal his body with spiritual power.

A person who naturally used different kinds of Mind Swords as if breathing. Yeon Ho-jeong was now facing a master of the Mind Sword that the world had never seen before.

The most unstable master of the Mind Sword in the world.

“The reason you can use such a diverse range of Mind Swords is probably thanks to the souls you have accepted. The diversification of the Mind Sword you realized through the military orders, that is what made you strong.”

Sa Mun-hyang’s eyes distorted for the first time.

“You made a mistake.”

A tired smile appeared on Yeon Ho-jeong’s face.

“I am the best in the world at seeing and copying.”

Crack!

Sa Mun-hyang’s wrist was broken.