Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 601

“Back! Fall back!”\n\nAs Tang Gwan and the Black Blood Unit clashed, poison and hidden weapons scattered in all directions.\n\nIt would have been one thing if there were only warriors, but there were also many servants and workers here who had no internal energy. Clan Lord Tang Suk-heon hurriedly led them to the rear.\n\nKwarurung!\n\nWith a thunderous roar, the yellowish clouds scattered, and pieces of flesh, shattered into fragments, littered the ground.\n\nTang Suk-heon’s eyes wavered.\n\n’Incredible!’\n\nThe aftereffects of the collision alone made it difficult to breathe.\n\nFortunately, no poison or hidden weapons were spreading in this direction. They had only moved people back as a precaution, but no one was caught in the shockwaves emanating from the clash between Tang Gwan and the Black Blood Unit.\n\n’It’s because he blocked them.’\n\nPer-peo-peong!\n\nExplosions erupted from various points within the formation formed by the Black Blood Unit.\n\nTang Gwan moved so quickly that the eye could not follow, engaging the Black Blood Unit. Every time his hand swung, every time his foot kicked off the ground, the formation formed by the Black Blood Unit crumbled.\n\n’He’s managing all of this in the midst of that.’\n\nA look of dismay appeared on Tang Suk-heon’s face.\n\nEven he didn’t know who held the truth between Tang Gwan and Tang Ho.\n\nHowever, in the way he handled the battle, it was Tang Gwan who moved people’s hearts. The Black Blood Unit was trying to sweep everything away, regardless of whether there were people here, but Tang Gwan, while fighting that powerful unit, was bearing all the poison, hidden weapons, and shockwaves for the sake of those not involved in the battle.\n\nIt was a matter of heart, not ability. Such actions could not be done for show.\n\n’…….’\n\nTang Suk-heon gritted his teeth.\n\nTang Gwan, moving like a gale, was mocking the Black Blood Unit. But no matter how great a clan head he was, he couldn’t be unscathed against the Black Blood Unit, the elite of the Tang Clan.\n\nPeok!\n\nTang Gwan’s figure faltered. A Black Blood Unit member’s palm strike had hit his shoulder.\n\nOf course, that was all. Tang Gwan didn’t stop. Whether there was an actual impact or not, what was important to him was to thoroughly discipline those who had disobeyed the clan head’s orders.\n\nTang Gwan’s hands moved like lightning.\n\nPeo-eo-eo-eong!\n\nWith a heavy explosion, the bodies of about a dozen Black Blood Unit members were destroyed. Their destroyed bodies were already rotting black.\n\n’Huk!’\n\nTang Suk-heon knew Tang Gwan’s martial art all too well.\n\n’Thousand Poison Hands!’\n\nTang Clan Thousand Poison Hands. [A martial art focused on using poison through hand strikes].\n\nIt was a basic skill that anyone who learned the Tang Clan’s poison techniques could master. However, like the Hand of Thousand Silk Threads [A martial art focused on using hidden weapons], it was an extremely difficult martial art to reach mastery in.\n\nTang Gwan was demonstrating the extreme power of that Thousand Poison Hands technique.\n\nPoison techniques were martial arts that killed opponents with the poison itself rather than the destructive power of the force emission.\n\nBut Tang Gwan’s Thousand Poison Hands was different. The poison was immense, but the power was just as extraordinary. If it weren’t for the movement of his hands and the spread of the poison, one might have mistaken it for a completely different martial art.\n\n’……It’s different.’\n\nPi-pi-pi-ping! Peong!\n\nHow long had it been since they clashed? Already, half of the Black Blood Unit had fallen.\n\nThat’s because it was a battle of poison and hidden weapons. If it had been a clash of pure force, such a result would not have been possible unless it was a powerhouse of the Saintly Heaven realm.\n\nTang Suk-heon swallowed hard.\n\n’The way he uses his martial arts is different!’\n\nHand of Thousand Silk Threads, Tang Clan Thousand Poison Hands, Crimson Lotus Palm, Snake Hole Fist, Poison Scorpion Thrusting Hand.\n\nEach one was a basic skill that formed the foundation of the Tang Clan’s martial arts. Except for the Hand of Thousand Silk Threads and Thousand Poison Hands, none of the other martial arts were difficult to master.\n\nTang Gwan was using such martial arts to thoroughly destroy the Black Blood Unit, the elite guard of the Tang Clan.\n\n’It’s truly divine might.’\n\nAt that level, he could be called the embodiment of Tang Clan martial arts. Even if Grand Master Gong Gong shattered the elite unit of the Martial Alliance with the Eighteen Arhat Hands, which even young monks of Shaolin learn, it wouldn’t be as astonishing as this.\n\nTang Suk-heon wasn’t the only one surprised.\n\n’Crazy!’\n\nHe was doing his best to maintain a blank expression, but he couldn’t hide the wavering in his eyes.\n\nTang Ho was utterly astonished by the incredible martial arts Tang Gwan was displaying.\n\n’This is impossible!’\n\nTang Gwan was strong. He knew that all too well.\n\nBut he never imagined it would be to this extent. He had thought that at most, he was two or three levels above him, but the martial arts Tang Gwan was showing now were from a completely different dimension.\n\nUnder a movement technique that the eye couldn’t follow, Tang Gwan was destroying the Black Blood Unit with only the basic skills of the Tang Clan. It was a sight of pure terror.\n\nHe was using faster and stronger basic skills at the right moments to overwhelm the elite unit.\n\nThe force emission at each moment was immense, but his internal energy consumption didn’t seem to be severe. It was because he was pushing his opponents with the necessary amount of power at the necessary moments.\n\n’Was he this strong? Was that guy this powerful?!’\n\nThe difference had to be within reason for jealousy to arise.\n\nTang Gwan was showing the essence of Tang Clan martial arts. He was completely shattering the common sense that poison and hidden weapons could only be focused on killing techniques.\n\nHe had elevated the Tang Clan’s martial arts to the realm of the martial path.\n\nSuddenly, Tang Ho recalled the words his father had told him when he was young.\n\n’Poison and hidden weapons are deadly. If you just put them in someone’s hands, even a child can dismantle a group of experts. But that cannot be seen as the ultimate. If poison and hidden weapons are also martial arts, then they can be led to the path. Only then can you be called a master.’\n\nTang Ho’s eyes became increasingly bloodshot.\n\n’How dare you, you bastard……!’\n\nTurning killing techniques into martial arts, martial arts into the martial path.\n\nThe figure Tang Gwan was showing now was truly worthy of being called a master.\n\nIt was an extreme realm that Tang Ho had not achieved, nor even thought of achieving. Leaving aside the Wall of Martial Arts or the Limitless Realm, he was walking the path of a grand master that those who had learned poison and hidden weapons should ultimately take.\n\n’I have to kill him.’\n\nTang Ho looked at the face of Tang Sa-beon, the leader of the Black Blood Unit.\n\nAnd also at the face of Clan Lord Tang Suk-heon, who was far away.\n\nTang Sa-beon was almost out of his mind, even though he was facing an enemy. His soul had been taken by the artistic martial arts Tang Gwan was showing.\n\nTang Suk-heon was even worse. His eyes, as he looked at Tang Gwan, were filled with emotion and admiration.\n\n’I must kill him!’\n\nTang Suk-heon could be like that, but Tang Sa-beon shouldn’t be. He wasn’t even that kind of person in the first place.\n\nA person who uses the Tang Clan’s martial arts with such perfection that even the enemy loses their mind.\n\nHe shouldn’t be captured alive. Even if the later matters were dealt with later, he should be killed immediately when the opportunity arises.\n\nTang Ho sent a telepathic message to Tang Sa-beon.\n\n[What are you doing!]\n\nStartled, Tang Sa-beon turned to look at Tang Ho.\n\nMurdurous intent flickered in Tang Ho’s eyes.\n\n[The Black Blood Unit is collapsing! Fight with the intent to kill!]\n\nTang Sa-beon’s eyes wavered.\n\nFight with the intent to kill? He was already doing that enough. He was about to die, so there was no room to consider the opponent.\n\nHowever, the words ‘intent to kill’ that Tang Ho had conveyed had another meaning. And Tang Sa-beon immediately understood what he meant.\n\nTang Sa-beon shouted.\n\n”Everyone, into the Three Formations!”\n\nPa-ba-bak!\n\nThe Black Blood Unit, which had been scattering poison and hidden weapons while targeting Tang Gwan, retreated to the rear.\n\nTang Gwan’s eyes flashed.\n\n’There’s something going on.’\n\nNearly half of the Black Blood Unit’s forces had already been wiped out.\n\nDespite that, the eyes of the Black Blood Unit members were not much different from the beginning. There was surprise, but their fighting spirit had not diminished.\n\nOnly following orders, holding their positions, and facing the enemy.\n\nSuch a Black Blood Unit retreated to the rear and formed a triangular wedge formation.\n\nIt was incredibly fast. It was a swift and fluid movement, as if they had only learned that their entire lives.\n\n’What is it?’\n\nThis formation was one that Tang Gwan didn’t know. When he was the clan head, he had never used such a formation.\n\nHowever.\n\n’Danger!’\n\nPa-a-a-ang!\n\nTang Gwan turned to the side and attacked the Black Blood Unit.\n\nHis intuition was telling him. That they were preparing some dangerous tactic. That there was something that even he would find difficult to handle head-on.\n\nTang Sa-beon shouted again.\n\n”Into the Four-Phase Blast Formation!”\n\nPeo-eo-eong!\n\nSomething that Tang Sa-beon shot flew towards Tang Gwan.\n\nTang Gwan’s eyes shone. The power wasn’t strong, but the range was wide and fast.\n\n’Soul-Snatching Fire Net.’\n\nA translucent net, five yards wide, filled Tang Gwan’s front.\n\nIt was a net as thin as a spider web, invisible to the eyes of ordinary people. The fire net, coated with gold dust and imbued with fire poison and powder, would dig into flesh and bone the moment it wrapped around the body.\n\nAnd the moment even a small fire was lit, even a supreme master would be reduced to ashes.\n\nSreuk!\n\nA dagger appeared in Tang Gwan’s hand.\n\n’So they even brought out the Soul-Snatching Fire Net.’\n\nIt was a hidden weapon that was not issued to the Black Blood Unit leader. It seemed that Tang Ho had given it directly.\n\nBeonjjeok! Beonjjeok!\n\nTang Gwan’s dagger slashed through the air at an incredible speed.\n\nChwa-a-ak!\n\nThe Soul-Snatching Fire Net tore, creating a space for Tang Gwan to enter. Tang Gwan stood still, waiting for the fire net to pass through him.\n\nAnd then.\n\nTang Gwan saw all the members of the Black Blood Unit putting blue pills in their mouths and donning red iron arm guards on their hands.\n\nThey were iron arm guards that were worn from the fingers to below the elbows. They were intricately made, and the arm guards had protrusions all over, creating a bizarre sense of intimidation.\n\nA look of surprise appeared on Tang Gwan’s face.\n\n”Blood-Forged Arm Guards?!!”\n\nThe pinnacle of the Tang Clan’s mechanical devices, a device that was the culmination of the Tang Clan’s hundreds of years of history. It was difficult to handle properly with ordinary senses, and it was originally an incomplete device.\n\nTang Sa-beon pulled his body back and shouted.\n\n”Fire!”\n\nKwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!\n\nWith an earth-shattering roar, huge flames were fired in all directions.\n\nKwarurung! Kwang! Kwakwang!\n\nThe ground in front of and to the sides of the Black Blood Unit was completely shattered, and the area was instantly turned into a sea of fire.\n\nIt was an unbelievable sight.\n\nSmall fire bombs were fired from the Blood-Forged Arm Guards, which were only supposed to be equipped with the Tang Clan’s secret hidden weapons. The idea of equipping fire bombs on the arm guards was amazing, but it was even more surprising that they had actually created something that could fire them.\n\nTu-du-du-duk!\n\nThe Black Blood Unit members who had fired the fire bombs from the front and both sides grimaced and were pushed back.\n\nThe members inside the formation received those who were pushed back with their entire bodies. The explosive power was so strong that even the expert Black Blood Unit members were pushed back.\n\nMoreover, the Black Blood Unit members who had fired the fire bombs all had their arms twisted grotesquely. Some had broken bones, and some were not even in their original shape.\n\nA triumphant smile spread across Tang Sa-beon’s face.\n\n’He couldn’t avoid it.’\n\nFire bombs were fired in all directions except the rear. The area was devastated, and he saw that Tang Gwan couldn’t retreat.\n\nWharururuk!\n\nBlue flames soared from the fire net that had fallen to the ground without engulfing Tang Gwan. The inextinguishable fire had awakened, ignited by the Soul-Snatching Fire Net.\n\nTang Sa-beon shouted.\n\n”Change!”\n\nThe members with broken arms went inside, and the members who had been supporting them from inside went outside.\n\nIt was then.\n\nChiri-ri-ring! Peo-eong!\n\nA huge iron chain, swung through the flames and smoke, tore apart the bodies of about a dozen Black Blood Unit members in front of it.\n\nTang Sa-beon was shocked.\n\n”Wh-what is that?!”\n\nChwa-ru-ru-ru-ruk!\n\nWith the sound of iron scales clashing, a dark gray iron chain writhed like a snake.\n\nHuuk!\n\nThe flames that had been spreading in all directions gathered towards the place where the iron chain had been fired.\n\nHwa-a-a-ak!\n\nIt absorbed the flames and increased the concentration of fire.\n\nInstantly, an immense killing intent enveloped the surroundings. The red fire that was being emitted created the shape of a huge vermilion bird, like a fortress gate.\n\n”He’s going all out.”\n\nChiri-ring!\n\nThe young man who had retrieved the Coiling Dragon Chain appeared, holding two axes, one black and one white.\n\nHis whole body was covered in blood from the destructive power of the fire bombs, but the energy he was emitting was extremely intense.\n\n”You brat.”\n\nHu-u-u-ung!\n\nTang Gwan, who had blocked the shockwave of the fire bombs in front of Tang Suk-heon’s group, glared at Tang Ho in the distance and said.\n\n”It’s a substitution.”\n\nYeon Ho-jeong grinned.\n\n”Don’t worry and go catch the fox.”\n\nPa-ang!\n\nTang Gwan bypassed the Black Blood Unit and charged towards Tang Ho.