Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1339

Moyong Gun realized he was seeing an illusion.

And he knew this illusion was fleeting. Fleeting, yet like eternity, and though it ended the moment he recognized it as eternity, it also felt like there was no time as long as this.

Contradiction upon contradiction, perception and loss were jumbled together.

The world was collapsing.

Flash!

Thousands of lightning bolts struck from the dark sky.

Some plunged straight down, while others merged and split, weaving through the clouds.

Even amidst all this, the sky was collapsing. The sight of the sky falling apart was something he witnessed directly, yet there were no words to adequately describe it.

And through the cracks of the collapsing sky, a blinding flash of light flickered.

‘A strange sight indeed.’

Despite the spectacle being a rare sight, Moyong Gun found himself calm, even indifferent.

It was astonishing, yet he felt no emotion. It was a truly bizarre state.

Amidst all this, he knew one thing.

‘That’s me.’

The collapsing sky.

The sky was himself.

‘I thought I was higher than anyone else.’

He had lived his life boasting that his pride was second to none. Others would have seen him that way too.

But when did it start? He realized that his pride was crumbling.

And he was surprised to find that he had no particular attachment to that aspect of himself.

‘I thought I was broken enough, but I still had a long way to go. It’s so deep and vast.’

Moyong Gun looked up at the sky with clear eyes.

Even though it was still collapsing, not even a tenth of it had disappeared.

But it was okay. The important thing was the situation of it collapsing. To give up everything right now would be arrogance.

After staring at the sky for a long time, Moyong Gun slowly lowered his body.

The fragments of the sky that were falling apart were strange, like a mixture of liquid and solid. Moyong Gun picked up one of the fragments.

The moment he did, the fragment vanished like smoke.

A bitter expression appeared on Moyong Gun’s face.

‘How futile.’

So this was what pride was, so fleeting. At least, his sky was like that.

‘Was this what I held in my heart all my life, something that would scatter so easily?’

Moyong Gun finally realized.

‘I was already ready to ascend to the Supreme.’

His mind, energy, body, and even his soul were perfectly refined.

The preparation to ascend to the Supreme had been completed long ago. Back when he secluded himself in the Martial Alliance, when he achieved victory against Gong Gong, the path to the Supreme had already opened.

But he still hadn’t ascended to the Supreme.

‘My spirit and body, my true energy were refined, but I haven’t ascended until now.’

Moyong Gun sighed.

‘No, I didn’t ascend.’

The moment he saw the sky collapsing in his world, his pride.

Moyong Gun looked into his subconscious.

‘I didn’t want to become a monster.’

When the density of true energy increases and one reaches a level where they can see what ordinary people cannot, the subconscious naturally deepens.

That’s why the development of a master is difficult. They have to look into their ever-deepening subconscious each time. The moments of enlightenment are a struggle with a self they don’t know, and the stronger they become, the stronger the opponents they have to fight, so their development speed is bound to be slow.

And after his seclusion, Moyong Gun was fighting the worst opponent of his life.

A formidable foe named the subconscious.

‘If I were to open the Supreme like this, I would be worse than others. I would only destroy myself. My subconscious realized that.’

It sounded like he was talking about someone else, but in the end, he knew that he would destroy himself, so he constantly turned away from the path of the Supreme. His desire reached the sky, but he, who had seen the world beyond desire, kept giving up.

If Moyong Gun’s desire had been so terrifying that it covered his subconscious, he would have already ascended to the Supreme.

‘It’s a relief.’

Moyong Gun looked up at the sky again.

The moment he realized his subconscious, the sky collapsed twice as fast.

And the light leaking from beyond the collapsed sky became brighter and clearer.

‘It’s a relief. That I can see myself.’

He could have become stronger faster.

In the past, he would have been frustrated by that fact. He would have clung to his regrets and gradually turned into a monster.

Not anymore.

Moyong Gun realized that his experience of reflecting on his life during his seclusion had a tremendous impact on his life. If he hadn’t gone through that process, he wouldn’t have worked with the Sangmu Alliance, but would have only used them.

He would have been obsessed with his own interests even during the attacks of the Three Teachings, and he would have surely eliminated those who tried to take away his power, causing great chaos. He would have become a more extreme enemy than the Three Teachings.

The thought of that ‘what if’ moment sent shivers down his spine.

He hated the Three Teachings more than anyone else. The fact that outsiders were greedily eyeing the Central Plains was enough to drive him crazy.

And he thought that such feelings were close to an inferiority complex that had been passed down from his ancestors.

But it wasn’t. Moyong Gun realized that now.

‘They are the same as me.’

It was true that he was greatly angered by the fact that they were eyeing his land, the world he should rule.

But the biggest reason was that he saw himself in the greed of the Three Teachings.

The ruthlessness to kill even those who had nothing to do with the martial world without batting an eye to gain power. The thorough selfishness to use any means necessary for conquest.

Moyong Gun had been hating himself by using the Three Teachings as a mirror.

‘Now I know myself.’

He had seen all his worries and felt all his emotions.

‘I am qualified.’

It wasn’t arrogance. It wasn’t conceit.

Moyong Gun saw himself clearly at this moment.

‘Knowing that I am qualified is enough.’

He wanted to think longer in this realm. He wanted to realize more.

Then he might be able to collapse that entire sky. Then he might be able to gain more power.

But Moyong Gun thought that this was good enough.

No matter how much more he gained, power that he couldn’t control would eventually lead to a rampage. Because he saw himself accurately, he was certain that this amount was the right amount of power he could handle.

He would no longer be greedy.

He would no longer be clouded by worries.

He would no longer distrust himself.

He would no longer lose himself to madness.

‘No more.’

Moyong Gun looked down at his hand.

He was holding a sword in his hand.

‘I will not cling to the sword.’

He had trained with the sword his entire life, but he had realized something greater than that.

Now he didn’t need the sword. No, there might be a moment when he needed it someday, but he no longer needed to cling to it.

When he first picked up the sword, he dreamed of reaching an unparalleled realm and becoming the one and only Sword God of the Central Plains, but now it was different.

‘That light is where I should go, and it is my kind of power.’

Moyong Gun threw the sword.

The sword soared high into the sky and was sucked into the broken sky.

Light and sword coexisted within it.

‘Let’s go now.’

The sky had collapsed by thirty percent.

Satisfied with the result, Moyong Gun closed his eyes.

Then the world changed.

* * *

Flash!

Blue lightning crackled from Moyong Gun’s body.

Myeong Hwal’s eyes shook fiercely.

‘This is?!’

The brain energy, which had momentarily increased in density, was moving thousands of times between Moyong Gun’s forehead, chest, and below his navel, increasing the total amount of power.

‘Extreme Lightning!!’

Crackling, sizzling!!

The fiercely surging lightning dyed the earth black.

The lightning that was rushing in all directions seemed like an uncontrollable force.

But in reality, it was different. Moyong Gun could have opened the sky and gained more power, more powerful lightning, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

The lightning that was now spreading in all directions was like turbid energy.

Power that was not given, power that was abandoned, was nothing.

Whoooosh!

Moyong Gun’s eyes, which were dyed with a blue glow, were truly reminiscent of the legendary Thunder God.

Myeong Hwal shouted.

“You bastard!”

Booooom!!

An unimaginable power was imbued in the greatsword that cut through the air.

It was a strike of Mount Tai Pressing Down with all his might. Myeong Hwal’s internal energy and upper dantian energy [the energy center in the forehead, associated with spiritual power] were combined within it, endlessly increasing the power of his existing martial arts.

‘He’s strong.’

Moyong Gun’s imposing eyes saw all the crimson power that wrapped around the greatsword.

The power of internal energy, and the power of the soul that covered it.

Two different powers were frantically intertwined, creating an extreme force. The reality of power that was not visible before reaching this level was there.

‘He’s not an opponent I can handle in a head-on fight.’

Nevertheless, Moyong Gun was calm.

The power of light, the enlightenment that controlled desire, was with him.

‘He’s an opponent I can’t win against. But….’

Moyong Gun’s left hand was extended forward once more.

‘I am confident that I won’t lose.’

Rumble!

A bolt of lightning fell from the dark sky.

Flash!

The lightning, which had become a flash of light, created a spiderweb-like lightning on his upper dantian.

Whoosh!

The extended lightning dismantled the upper dantian energy that was on Myeong Hwal’s greatsword, strand by strand, at an incredible speed.

The greatsword split the earth.

Clang!

It was a powerful force.

But that was all. Moyong Gun was standing half an inch behind the greatsword that was stuck in the ground.

Shock appeared on Myeong Hwal’s face.

“You?!”

Moyong Gun swung his sword.

The form was swordsmanship, but within it was the essence of martial arts. The ultimate lightning was lurking within the ‘swing,’ which was like a fist technique and a sword technique.

Myeong Hwal hurriedly pulled out his greatsword and swung it to meet the attack.

Clang!

It was a ruthless force.

Myeong Hwal, who was pushed back madly, clicked his teeth without realizing it. The unresolved lightning had entered his skin and caused abnormalities in his muscles.

‘This crazy!’

His vision flashed.

He wasn’t pushed back by force. He was countered due to the difference in the nature of the power.

Whoosh!

Indeed, Myeong Hwal was amazing.

He had been struck by a humiliating blow from an opponent who had suddenly awakened to the Supreme. He was surprised and furious. But that anger did not break his fighting style.

Whoooosh!

The greatsword was swung even more powerfully.

He pulled up the upper dantian energy as much as he could, and plunged spears of spiritual power in all directions that Moyong Gun could evade. It was a strike that was truly like Myeong Hwal, telling him not to avoid it and to fight head-on.

And at that moment.

Moyong Gun released his sword.

Thump, thump, thump, thump!

The sword that cut through the air destroyed all the spiritual power that was surrounding him like spears.

It was the Thunder God’s Sword Technique, the Thunder God’s Descent of the Unfeeling Heavenly Thunder Style.

Clang!

The strike of the greatsword that shattered the entire area was truly fierce.

But Moyong Gun was already standing next to the greatsword. The entire area was shattered and collapsed, but only the place where Moyong Gun was standing was intact.

“Didn’t I tell you to come down?”

Moyong Gun’s hand touched the greatsword.

Crackling, sizzling!!

The invisible, formless lightning dismantled Myeong Hwal’s spiritual power, turning it into debris. And he pulled that debris down to its roots.

Confusion appeared on Myeong Hwal’s face.

He had never had his spiritual power, which he used in his upper dantian, manipulated by someone else’s hand. But in front of this guy, he somehow couldn’t use his power.

‘This is impossible!’

Spiritual power, upper dantian energy, is the power of the soul. The opponent can suppress my spiritual power, but they cannot dismantle it and scatter it.

Moyong Gun had just done that.

The more emphasis a Supreme practitioner places on their upper dantian, the stronger and more fatal Moyong Gun would be as their natural enemy.

“It’s hard to win, but I won’t lose either.”

Moyong Gun raised his fist.

“From now on, it’s okay to live like that.”

Flash! Bang!

Myeong Hwal, who was hit by the fist that shot out like a flash of light, flew back more than ten yards.