Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 604

Thwack! Thwack!

With each swing of the axe, a life was extinguished.

There were no flashy, wide-ranging martial arts. He didn’t use methods like creating shockwaves with massive internal energy or causing earthquakes with his footwork, as he had before. He didn’t try to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses.

He was simply calm.

He naturally found the blind spots in the enemy’s movements, reducing their numbers one by one.

It was a strange movement. It was a movement that consumed almost no internal energy, reacting to the opponent’s martial arts without using his unique fast and powerful footwork.

Tang Sa-beon’s eyes widened.

In his confusion, as he stammered, ‘Uh, uh,’ he lost fifteen of his men to the nameless young man’s axe.

“What are you doing?!”

Tang Sa-beon roared.

“Everyone, fall back and use the poison! He’s not Tang Gwan!”

The Black Blood Corps members, who had been fighting Yeon Ho-Jeong as if possessed, were startled and retreated.

That’s right. He wasn’t Tang Gwan. Nevertheless, the moment they clashed with him, they instinctively counterattacked and were miserably defeated.

Flash!

As the Black Blood Corps retreated, Yeon Ho-Jeong looked at Tang Sa-beon.

Tang Sa-beon’s face twitched.

“I don’t know who you are, but since you’ve touched the main family…”

“Does the Tang family have no concept of hierarchy?”

“What?!”

“How dare a mere squad leader call the family head by name so carelessly? Do the Tang family members not learn basic etiquette?”

Tang Sa-beon’s face turned red.

“Shut up! How can a traitor who tried to sell the family to outsiders be called the family head?!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong pointed his axe at Tang Sa-beon.

Tang Sa-beon flinched. He had only pointed an axe, but an unknown pressure made his spine tingle.

Yeon Ho-Jeong spoke calmly.

“In the first place, it’s not true, and even if it were, a mere squad leader shouldn’t act like this. Are the Tang family’s leaders so incompetent that they can’t even handle this? Are they so incapable that they can’t stop a mere squad leader from making immoral statements?”

“Shut your mouth!!”

“Wait quietly until all the truth is revealed. Then, at least you’ll be able to receive a minimal defense when the truth comes out.”

Whoosh!

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

Tang Sa-beon’s face turned pale. The murderous intent of his opponent, piercing like an awl, made his legs tremble.

Stumbling, stumbling.

He unconsciously took a step back, then realized his mistake and looked at the Black Blood Corps.

The faces of the surviving Black Blood Corps members showed subtle shock. A squad leader retreating just because the enemy glared at him? It was something unimaginable in any martial arts clan, not just the Tang family.

Tang Sa-beon’s face twisted like a demon.

“You bastard!”

“It is a position that tries to hide who the Tang family head is, under the name of truth.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong shouted.

“A nobody like you should just stay put!”

His voice, echoing loudly, was filled with intense anger.

Tang Sa-beon yelled.

“Black Blood Corps! Deploy the Black Blood Five Formation! Kill him at all costs!”

The Black Blood Corps’ eyes wavered.

The Black Blood Five Formation was the Black Blood Corps’ last line of defense, their strongest killing formation. It meant that they, a unit specialized in defense, had to put everything aside and engage in an indiscriminate annihilation battle with the enemy.

Yeon Ho-Jeong didn’t know about the Black Blood Five Formation, but just by looking at Tang Sa-beon’s expression and the members’ eyes, he knew what kind of formation it was.

“You guys are pitiful too.”

Chiriring!

The Twin Dragon Chain, which had flowed out from his sleeve, was tied to the hooks at the ends of the black and white twin dragon axes.

“That’s why you need to choose your master well. A master who has become a slave to power, succumbing to the sweet tongue of a true traitor who has framed an innocent family head as a rebel.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong shook his head.

“You’re pitiful, but I won’t pity you anymore. After all, you’re all living lives on the edge of a blade.”

“Shut up! Black Blood Corps, what are you doing! Deploy the Black Blood Five Formation right now!”

The Black Blood Corps still hesitated. They were instinctively forming the formation, but their somewhat scattered movements and wavering eyes were clearly not normal.

They were wavering.

It wasn’t just because of Yeon Ho-Jeong. They had been psychologically shaken since they clashed with Tang Gwan, and since they heard the conversation between Tang Gwan and Tang Ho.

They just hadn’t shown it.

In the midst of all this, the words of the nameless young master who had taken Tang Gwan’s place were driving a wedge into their already shaken hearts.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had been watching them quietly, took a strong step forward.

Thud!

The powerful footwork of the White Tiger Overlord Step shook the minds of the Black Blood Corps members.

“If you want to fight, I won’t stop you, but those who want to retreat, retreat now. I also don’t want to cross blades with enemies I’m forced to fight.”

Tang Sa-beon roared.

“These bastards, what do they think of the squad leader’s orders! Kill that guy right now! Kill him!!”

At that moment, the first squad leader of the Black Blood Corps opened his mouth.

“Squad Leader.”

The first squad leader was the strongest and most thorough expert among the Black Blood Corps members.

He opened his mouth. With a blank face, with wavering eyes.

“How about we wait for a moment.”

“…What?”

Tang Sa-beon looked at the first squad leader with a dumbfounded expression, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Are you, right now, defying my orders?!”

“I know that we must absolutely obey the orders of the higher-ups. But…”

The first squad leader had to say the words that were hard to utter.

“The reason for the existence of the Black Blood Corps is to protect the Tang family. The main unit is the last line of defense for the Tang family, and we are a unit that must fight to the end, even if it means death.”

“You speak well, you idiot! Knowing that, you’re defying my orders?!”

“Are we really a unit that protects the Tang family?”

“…?!”

“Two years ago, after the new family head ascended, the Black Blood Corps had to handle hidden weapons and explosives that we had never seen before, and we had to learn annihilation formations instead of defensive formations.”

The Blood-Linked Armor was the same.

The Blood-Linked Armor itself was still an unfinished product. However, even so, it was more delicate than any mechanical device in the world, yet stronger than steel, and it was an item that would not be damaged by the sword energy of most experts.

They were given Blood-Linked Armor with explosives so powerful that the armor couldn’t withstand it.

In fact, that was understandable. In the final moment, they had to stop the enemy even if it meant exploding.

However, Tang Sa-beon made them take out the Blood-Linked Armor to kill Tang Gwan.

That was not something a unit that protects the family’s last line of defense should do. Of course, Tang Gwan, whom they were facing as an enemy, was a monster beyond comparison, but in the first place, the banner he brought was to reveal the truth.

It is unknown what intentions were hidden within. It was something that the Black Blood Corps had to be mobilized for.

However, Tang Sa-beon’s orders, and the sight of Tang Ho fleeing to the rear, raised strong questions for all the members of the Black Blood Corps.

Perhaps, maybe.

They wondered if they had been played by the hands of ridiculous traitors.

The orders of the higher-ups were absolute, but they could not die as a cowardly unit played by the hands of traitors. That was why the first squad leader had stepped forward on behalf of everyone.

“If everyone had agreed under the guise of revealing the truth, then even the former family head, who is suspected of being a traitor, would have been willingly captured.”

“You idiot! How can you let the enemy enter the inner courtyard without knowing what they are thinking or what their intentions are?! What have you learned so far!”

The first squad leader spoke about an issue that he had never raised before, something that he and all the members of the Black Blood Corps had been wondering about.

“There was no formal family head position.”

“What?!”

“The current family head did not formally receive the position of family head. Under the pretext that the situation was chaotic, he sent all the elders to prison and ascended to the position of family head without the consent of anyone.”

“You crazy bastard! That’s because the existing elders were also the same as the traitors…”

At that moment, Yeon Ho-Jeong shook his head.

“That’s not right.”

Tang Sa-beon’s eyes flashed.

Whoosh!

The power of the fist wind shot through the air was truly great. From speed to power, there was nothing to criticize about the attack.

But.

Bang!

With a casual swing of his axe, the powerful fist wind was completely extinguished. The poison contained in the fist wind was also completely burned away by the Vermilion Fire.

Tang Sa-beon’s face turned red. He had blocked an attack with all his might so easily, and he could feel the difference in martial arts to the bone.

Yeon Ho-Jeong continued.

“Logically speaking, it doesn’t make sense. If the Tang family head was really planning to sell the family and Sichuan, at least more than half of the elders should have opposed it.”

“Outsider, shut up!”

“During the reign of the family head called Tang Gwan, were there any cases where the elders of the Elder Council were impeached or retired without reason?”

“…?!”

At that moment, Tang Sa-beon was speechless.

Yeon Ho-Jeong chuckled.

“You’re not going to say that the Tang family head had already decided to sell the family and Sichuan to outsiders even before he ascended to the position of family head, are you? And you’re not going to say that all the elders agreed with that idea, are you?”

“I told you to shut up! I don’t care about that! If the circumstances are captured and the evidence is clear, then they should be punished accordingly…”

“Was the insight of the former family head, the big shot known as Dark King Tang Hyeong, that poor? Did he give the position of family head to his son without knowing that he was such a reckless person who would sell the family?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong tilted his head.

“What do you think of this family?”

Tang Sa-beon’s body trembled.

‘This isn’t right?!’

The atmosphere was turning strange. It wasn’t supposed to be a situation where this kind of atmosphere was created in the first place.

Even when he faced Tang Gwan, the atmosphere wasn’t like this. Rather, when Tang Gwan started to rampage, Tang Sa-beon was happy. The more he went crazy, the less legitimacy he would have.

But why now?

“It’s strange, isn’t it? This reality that doesn’t go according to your plan?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong pointed to one of the walls with his Black Dragon Axe.

“Then, tell those people too.”

Kwaaaang!

A massive wall was shattered by a sword energy like a bolt of lightning and a spear strike that swept like a storm.

Zing! Zing!

From inside the collapsed wall, a blue electric light and a reddish divine spear appeared.

Tang Sa-beon’s eyes widened. The Black Blood Corps members were also startled.

“So you were here.”

The appearance of Moyong Gun and Hwang Seok-tae.

And behind them, there was a group of people who were staggering but still managed to straighten their backs and walk.

Chiriring! Chiriring!

Their steps seemed heavy.

The iron chains that had bound their hands and feet had been cut, but the handcuffs and shackles were still on. It was a question why they hadn’t taken them off yet.

“It took longer than I thought. It was really amazing. If the Tang family head hadn’t given me the Dream Soul Pill in advance, it would have been impossible to go to the lowest level alone.”

Even the proud Moyong Gun was groaning. That’s how difficult it was to break through the Ghost Prison.

Yeon Ho-Jeong smiled.

“Since you have succeeded in that difficult task, the lies that have been packaged as truth will lose their power thanks to the people who have come out of the Ghost Prison.”

“You’re still eloquent.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong turned to Tang Sa-beon.

Tang Sa-beon’s face was pale, almost blue.

“Tell those people too. Tell them that what you say is true, that they are all traitors who have committed treason. Go ahead and say it.”