Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 334

The next day.

“I’ve worked up a good sweat for the first time in a while.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s body was drenched in sweat after finishing the Myeolsa Army training. [Myeolsa Army: A fictional military unit or training regimen within the story.]

Perhaps because he had stepped away from the Moyong family’s side and the political scene of the Murim Alliance [Murim Alliance: A martial arts alliance], he felt a sense of mental ease. Of course, he was still on high alert in various aspects, but compared to before, the things he had to worry about had been reduced by more than half.

Thud.

He put down the Gwangryong Axe [Gwangryong Axe: A fictional weapon] and took off his top.

His sweat-soaked upper body was covered in almost perfect muscles. He might look slender on the outside, but in reality, his muscles were compressed to the maximum, giving him a high level of explosive power and endurance.

“Hoo.”

He took a deep breath and picked up the Gwangryong Axe.

As soon as the Myeolsa Army training was over, he began his personal training. He hadn’t been able to make time for training lately due to various matters, so he intended to train as much as possible when he could.

Whooong.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, holding the Gwangryong Axe with both hands and raising it behind his head, looked like a sculpture.

The enormous elasticity of his pectorals and abs, stretched to their limits, was evident. The muscles on his back, which were not very noticeable when he was standing straight, spread out wide as if they were wings.

Yeon Ho-Jeong slowly moved the Gwangryong Axe.

‘Ugh.’

It was an extremely slow movement.

He moved the Gwangryong Axe, which weighed over eighty geun [Geun: A traditional Korean unit of weight, roughly equivalent to 600 grams], at an extremely slow speed. Even after a long time, the Gwangryong Axe, which had been raised behind his head, was only just passing his forehead.

It was a blunt sword training that stimulated the muscles of his entire body, from his upper body to his lower body. It was three times slower than the training he had done when he went to escort Gi Woo-Hee before.

Crack!

The load on his muscles increased alarmingly. His entire upper body turned red. The load on his joints was also maintaining a precarious limit.

‘It’s still tough.’

A training that even a master of the highest level would find difficult to endure, and that even a family head-level master of the Six Great Clans [Six Great Clans: Powerful martial arts families] would find hard to sustain without protecting their joints with internal energy.

In other words, it was a training close to madness. Even with the mystical power of internal energy, most martial artists would find it hard to endure.

It was an extreme training possible only because Yeon Ho-Jeong had built his body with training that surpassed human limits and dense true energy. Even Yeon Ho-Jeong could break his joints if he relaxed his tension.

Whooong! Whooong!

The Yeon Family Divine Core [Yeon Family Divine Core: A fictional concept of internal energy source] vibrated wildly.

As the Gwangryong Axe reached his solar plexus, his body began to reach its limit. The Yeon Family Divine Core was sending a danger signal to protect his body, and Yeon Ho-Jeong cleanly ignored that signal.

Thump! Thump!

The tightly gathered pectorals began to turn dark red, almost purple.

Another two quarters of an hour passed like that.

The edge of the Gwangryong Axe touched a stone on the ground.

Fuss.

The edge touched but didn’t split the stone, instead crumbling it. This was because the pressure of the true energy loaded into the Gwangryong Axe was unimaginably great.

At the same time, Yeon Ho-Jeong released the Gwangryong Axe.

Thud!

“Cough!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had let out a rough breath, collapsed on the spot.

“Huff! Huff!”

It felt like the blood in his entire body had stopped and then suddenly started moving at high speed again.

He hadn’t done any damage to his joints, but the muscles of his entire body were on the verge of rupturing. If he hadn’t protected his internal organs with his deathly energy, two or three of his internal organs would have burst.

“Cough! Da, damn it.”

Blood mixed with his shallow coughs. Even though he had protected his internal organs, he couldn’t avoid internal injuries. The pressure transmitted to his abdomen was enormous.

It wasn’t just that he had swung the Gwangryong Axe slowly, but that he had adjusted the power of the axe, imagining the enemy’s attacks at every moment.

‘Still, it’s possible without using internal energy except to protect the body.’

He had swung the Gwangryong Axe for almost half an hour with pure brute force. It was not human strength.

Yeon Ho-Jeong took a deep breath.

Flash!

A beautiful blue-green light bloomed brightly from his body.

The Yeon Family Divine Core was moving more actively than ever. Like water pouring out of a broken dam, true energy was rushing through the meridians of his entire body, and the speed at which it was healing his muscles and internal injuries was terrifying.

Soon, color returned to Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face.

“Even with just one training session, it’s this much… this is quite good.”

The muscles of his entire body were going wild.

It was an extreme level of activity that he had never experienced in any battle. Even for Yeon Ho-Jeong, it wasn’t a training he could do often, but the benefits he could gain from one training session and recovery were enormous.

‘The body is a vessel for enlightenment. My current problem is that the gap between my enlightenment and my physical body is too great.’

That was why he was trying to unify the five great divine arts of the Yeon family. He intended to forcibly raise the level of his physical body by unifying the various internal energies he had obtained through the divine arts.

However, if he repeatedly performed today’s training, he felt like he could reach that realm faster than he had thought.

The ultimate realm that only the absolute beings could glimpse. A supreme level where one could face a major sect-level force head-on without any strategy, tactics, or tricks.

It seemed like he could reach the world of the martial god that the Thirteen Seats of the Holy Heaven were walking in even faster. [Thirteen Seats of the Holy Heaven: A fictional group of powerful martial artists.]

‘I’ve already fought against a master of the Eighteen Martial Generals level of the Divine Flame Church. If they’re not fools, they would have already started investigating. It will take time because of the Murim Alliance’s eyes, but they will eventually find out about my existence.’

Whooooooong.

The blue-green light emanating from his entire body slowly subsided. His body had recovered to some extent.

‘Faster, more surely, more dramatically.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong picked up the Gwangryong Axe.

His muscles and internal injuries were not completely healed. Yet, it felt much lighter than before the training. It was as if all the dormant muscle nerves had awakened explosively.

Feeling satisfied, Yeon Ho-Jeong spoke in a calm voice.

“Training is over.”

“You knew it, didn’t you?”

Flap!

Ga Deuk-Sang landed on the wall of the Pagun Pavilion. [Pagun Pavilion: A fictional structure or location.]

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes widened.

“Your movements have become lighter.”

Ga Deuk-Sang clicked his tongue.

“You can see that?”

“Wouldn’t it be strange if I couldn’t? Your true energy also seems to have become denser.”

“Indeed, Young Master Yeon’s insight alone is second to none in this era. I’m still curious. How did you become such a monster at that age?”

How could he explain all that long story? Yeon Ho-Jeong just smiled.

“By the way, you have a truly amazing body. You’re doing blunt sword training with a crazy heavy weapon weighing over eighty geun? Aren’t you going to hurt yourself?”

“I’m adjusting it myself.”

“Well, who am I to worry about you?”

Ga Deuk-Sang, who had jumped down to the ground, dusted off his hands and said.

“Since we don’t have much time, I’ll get straight to the point. I’ve been watching the Moyong family’s side.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes lit up.

“How was it? Were there any suspicious movements?”

Ga Deuk-Sang sighed.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“In fact, when it comes to handling matters, those at the level of the heads of the Six Great Clans are flawless. Young Master Yeon, who has been by the side of the Yeon family head, knows this well.”

“Hmm.”

“There definitely seemed to be suspicious movements. Especially when I looked at Moyong Yeon-Hwa’s movements, she was looking around various places in the inner city, unlike usual.”

“So?”

“It was definitely suspicious, but there were no movements of her sending carrier pigeons or dispatching people out of the sect. Of course, I had people stationed at every place she visited, but they also didn’t feel anything particularly unusual.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong nodded.

“Moyong Yeon-Hwa moved differently than usual. That alone is enough.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t think like that. As Hoo-Gae said, if Moyong Gun is determined to hide something, it would be difficult for anyone to know.”

Ga Deuk-Sang clicked his tongue. He felt sorry to Yeon Ho-Jeong, but he was also upset that the Beggars’ Union [Beggars’ Union: A fictional information network], which was called the best in the Central Plains in terms of information and intelligence, had failed to catch the other party’s tail.

“Anyway, the fact that Moyong Yeon-Hwa moved differently than usual means that there must be something going on with her.”

“It could be, or it might not be. Let’s keep an eye on it for now.”

“Let’s do that. Ah! And…”

“Hmm?”

Ga Deuk-Sang’s face became serious.

“About the information base of that Divine Flame Church.”

“……?”

“It’s not that there’s a problem there, but there’s something a bit unsettling.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes lit up.

“What is it?”

“The strategist ordered our union’s members to monitor the movements of the central and northern parts of Henan. I’m talking about the government offices.”

“……!”

No matter how weak the empire’s power had become, monitoring the movements of the government offices was extremely dangerous. If that fact were to be discovered, the relationship with the officialdom would deteriorate severely.

Of course, they were secretly watching each other, but that was only at a level that was not revealed. If that fact were to be openly known, a huge political problem could erupt.

In other words, Jeagal Mun-Ho thought that it was necessary to monitor the government offices even at that risk.

“And?”

“We received intelligence that an unknown master is heading south.”

“An unknown master?”

“Yes.”

Ga Deuk-Sang’s face was very serious.

“The world is vast, and there are many masters who operate without revealing their names. Excluding that possibility, our union knows most of the masters operating in Henan and Hubei provinces.”

“……”

“But we’ve detected the existence of a master we’ve never heard of. According to the intelligence, the martial prowess of that unknown master is at least at the level of a family head of the Six Great Clans.”

“……!”

“A master at the level of a family head of the Six Great Clans. No matter how vast the world is, there aren’t many masters of that level. Of course, our union has been tracking the movements of all the supreme masters operating in Henan and Hubei, but he’s not one of them. After examining his appearance, it turns out he’s a master who has never operated in the Murim before.”

“……His attire?”

“That’s exactly why I’m racking my brain.”

Ga Deuk-Sang frowned.

“He wasn’t wearing the official uniform of the government offices, but he was wearing the clothes of a high-ranking official distributed by the government offices.”

“……!”

“And on those clothes… there was a red epaulet that only those at the level of a Deputy Regional Commander or higher could wear.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face immediately hardened.

There are sixteen Regional Military Commands in the Central Plains. And each Regional Military Command controls the garrison of one province.

Among them, a Deputy Regional Commander is a high-ranking official who is one of only four in each province, a powerful figure equivalent to the third rank. It was a different level from the Twelve Martial Generals of the Divine Flame Church or the Jinmu position of Gyujeok. [Jinmu: A fictional military rank or position.]

“And that person is heading southwest from central Henan. Exactly where the Murim Alliance and Mount Daebyeol are located.”

“……I see.”

“We don’t know yet if he’s a member of the Divine Flame Church. What’s a bit strange is that, in order not to be exposed to the outside world, he should have avoided such attire, but he boldly wore the official uniform provided by the government. This is a bit strange.”

“There’s nothing strange about it.”

The corners of Yeon Ho-Jeong’s lips twitched.

“A Deputy Regional Commander is on a different level than a Jinmu of a Regional Military Command. If he’s really a member of the Divine Flame Church, it would be difficult for us to touch him. The empire would directly launch an investigation.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

Ga Deuk-Sang’s eyes lit up.

“Then what will you do? Will you go directly to investigate him?”

“Well.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong looked down at the Gwangryong Axe.

“……How should I handle this one?”