Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 608

“Hah, hah!”

Having escaped the Lion Soul Formation, Tang Ho placed his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

Even as time passed, his breathing wouldn’t settle. The poison that had penetrated his body was continuously causing internal damage. Even with the power of the Three Yangs Returning to Origin Technique [a technique focused on restoring internal energy], he couldn’t control the poison.

After a long while of heavy panting, Tang Ho’s face twisted in an instant.

“Damn it! You son of a bitch!”

Bang! Bang!

The earth groaned under his agitated kicks.

“Hah! Hah!”

After stomping on the ground several times, Tang Ho finally straightened his back.

“This isn’t the time for this.”

He had no intention of ever making a deal with him. But the situation had changed.

Though he had been forced to make a contract, Tang Ho had no intention of keeping it. After all, wasn’t it a verbal agreement that would be nullified if the contractor died?

‘I’ll wipe them all out.’

Now was the time.

His home, the Tang family with its hundreds of years of history, might be reduced to ruins, but he didn’t care. He had already smuggled out copies of all the Tang family’s martial arts, mechanical techniques, and formations.

And with the money he had earned from Paradise Manor.

He would have more than enough to start anew anywhere.

Tang Ho took out some internal injury medicine from his pocket and quickly turned his steps towards the rear of the family head’s residence.

It was then.

“……?!”

Tang Ho’s movements abruptly stopped.

‘What is this?’

A sinister energy was slowly creeping in.

It was somehow familiar yet eerie. This energy, which felt like something he couldn’t handle, was permeating the air, weighing down the entire Tang family like the depths of the sea.

Tang Ho turned his head.

Krrrrrr!

With the sound of the earth collapsing, the subtle deathly energy that had been covering the sky vanished as if washed away.

“……!!”

Horror dawned on Tang Ho’s face.

“Lion Soul Formation?!”

It wasn’t the half-baked formation in front of the family head’s residence that he hadn’t had time to prepare properly.

It was the real Lion Soul Formation. The Lion Soul Formation that had been laid out in that direction was the largest in the history of the Ghost Gate, a destructive formation that would send anything that entered it, living or non-living, straight to hell.

That formation, a formation that should have been tearing apart anyone who entered it, was being annihilated by the release of a tremendous power.

Thump, thump!

Even moments ago, when he was on the verge of losing his life at Tang Gwan’s hands, his heart hadn’t pounded this hard.

Saaaaaaah.

If the spreading of fog had a sound, it would be like this.

An invisible, formless dark cloud was spreading out at a terrifying speed from where the Lion Soul Formation had collapsed.

That energy didn’t possess just one characteristic.

The Tang family’s pride, poison energy, the yang energy rising from the Sichuan land, the humidity created by Sichuan’s low sunlight, the deadly killing intent, and even an overwhelming aura of power.

It was a force that had concentrated all the energies that could be felt in this land of Sichuan. That power was quickly and surely engulfing the Tang family.

“Ah, Dark King!”

The true Lion Soul Formation was one of the last resorts prepared for the unlikely event, something they thought they would almost never use.

And that insurance was prepared to stop just one man’s advance.

Dark King Tang Hyeong.

The strongest martial god of Sichuan, who had made his name among the Thirteen Seats of the Heavenly Saints [a group of powerful martial artists] as the Divine Immortal Emperor.

That formation had been broken, and the legendary martial artist who had long confined himself had finally stretched his limbs.

Fwaaaak!

Tang Ho ran towards the rear of the family head’s residence.

The internal injuries that were already worsening were further aggravated by his reckless use of inner energy.

But he didn’t care about internal injuries. This wasn’t the time for that.

The Dark King had appeared.

The absolute being who could destroy his life and everything he had built in an instant had awakened.

Faced with that reality, Tang Ho couldn’t think of anything. Legitimacy? Truth? Deals? What good were they?

“Hah! Hah!”

A metallic sound was mixed in with his breathing. Still, Tang Ho didn’t stop.

How long had he run like that?

Finally, Tang Ho arrived at the rear garden, where Tang Yeo-Seon greeted him with a bewildered face.

“Father?”

“Get out of the way!”

Thud!

Tang Yeo-Seon was sent flying, spitting blood. He had been knocked away by Tang Ho’s rough fist.

He had struck his own child with inner energy. He was blinded by rage.

His child, spitting out a mouthful of blood, looked at his father with disbelief.

Tang Ho didn’t even glance at Tang Yeo-Seon. He simply entered the small warehouse in the rear garden.

And a moment later.

Tang Ho emerged from the warehouse with black-dyed arm guards that looked exactly like the Blood-Linked Arm Guards [powerful artifacts].

Between his disheveled clothes, silver scales gleamed, and his dark, greenish-jade robe emitted a subtle light as he moved.

Horror washed over Tang Yeo-Seon’s face.

“F-Father?!”

The arm guards on Tang Ho’s arms, the silver scales gleaming beneath his clothes, and the mysterious greenish-jade robe.

Tang Yeo-Seon knew what they were. He hadn’t known before, but after his father had ascended to the position of family head, he had heard about their purpose.

That was why he was horrified. Those items were things that should never be taken out unless the family was on the verge of destruction.

But an even more shocking thing happened after that.

“Follow me!”

“Y-Yes?!”

“We’re leaving this place right now! We have to run away!”

Run away? What was he talking about?

Tang Yeo-Seon asked in confusion.

“Father! What on earth is going on?!”

Tang Ho shouted.

“Don’t ask, just move! If you don’t follow, I’ll leave you behind!”

With those words, Tang Ho left the rear garden.

“……”

A sense of despair washed over Tang Yeo-Seon’s face.

Leave me behind if I don’t follow? He didn’t know what was going on, but to abandon his own child?

Tang Yeo-Seon, who had been watching Tang Ho’s retreating back, suddenly moved quickly.

“F-Father! Let’s go together!”

Fwaang!

Tang Yeo-Seon quickly chased after Tang Ho.

But the distance didn’t close easily. Even if his internal injuries were severe, Tang Ho was a supreme master. Tang Yeo-Seon’s movement technique wasn’t enough to properly chase him.

Tang Ho didn’t care about that either.

What was important to him now was his own safety and everything he had accumulated.

In a situation where the tower he had built throughout his life could collapse in an instant, he couldn’t hesitate to take care of just one child.

It was then.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Hah!!”

Tang Ho, startled, stopped his movement technique.

Kwaang!

Unable to control his speed, Tang Ho crashed into the inner courtyard wall. The wall that his body had collided with was dented.

Tang Ho didn’t even feel the impact. He just looked around with a face full of fear.

‘What? Where is he?!’

He wasn’t there.

The voice, which had been as clear as if it had been spoken right next to his ear, and the figure of its owner, couldn’t be seen anywhere.

Tang Ho was bewildered.

‘Was it a hallucination?’

But the voice was too clear to be a hallucination.

“Hah! Hah! F-Father!”

Only then did Tang Yeo-Seon enter within twenty feet of Tang Ho. His face was flushed red, as if he had run so hard that his breathing had become ragged.

Tang Ho gritted his teeth.

‘It must be a hallucination.’

There was no need to dwell on something invisible. Tang Ho once again forcefully used his movement technique to try to cross the wall of the inner courtyard.

And at that moment.

“The moment you cross the wall, you will not be forgiven.”

Srrk!

Tang Ho, who was about to step onto the edge of the wall, flinched.

Trickle.

Cold sweat ran down Tang Ho’s forehead.

He quietly looked around, but as before, there was no one in sight.

‘It’s not a coincidence.’

This voice, this majesty.

Though invisible, the one who had spoken to him was not a ghost.

‘Could it be?’

Then, once again, a voice was heard.

“Come down.”

Ooooh!

“You know that running away is futile.”

Tang Ho felt his legs tremble.

There were no harsh words like curses or threats to kill. But the voice made him feel a hundred times more pressure than such harsh language.

‘He’s watching.’

His hands, which he had placed on the wall, were shaking uncontrollably.

‘He’s watching my movements even from an invisible place.’

Could he have mastered some legendary clairvoyance?

That was unknown.

What was important was that within this Tang family, there was only one person who could wield such power.

Srrk. Thud.

Tang Ho came down from the wall. Of course, he was still inside the inner courtyard.

Confusion arose on Tang Yeo-Seon’s face.

“Father?”

“It seems you didn’t hear it.”

“Yes?”

“I thought so.”

Tang Ho gritted his teeth.

“Damn it!!”

Bang! Bang!

Tang Ho’s agitated stomping on the ground was already not normal.

Too easily, too suddenly.

All that he had built up over the years was on the verge of disappearing like a bubble.

“Uaaaaaah!”

Tang Ho’s face, as he roared at the sky, was twisted like a demon.

He wanted to get out of this place right now, but he couldn’t leave because of the fear that he would really be finished if he did. It was on a different level from Tang Gwan’s warnings or threats.

“Hah! Hah!”

Tang Ho, who was panting, took a deep breath.

He didn’t know if all the old monsters of the Ghost Gate had been taken down. But if even the Lion Soul Formation had been destroyed, it was only a matter of time before the Dark King found him.

In the current situation, there was only one thing he could do.

“Yeo-Seon.”

“……Yes.”

“Activate the Heavenly Thunder.”

Tang Ho tapped the Ink-Dyed Arm Guards on his arms.

“In the end, it seems the only way to escape this damn cycle is to kill them all.”

* * *

“Cough!”

Tang Hyeong, who had been looking east, turned his head and looked down at Tang Chung-Ho.

Tang Chung-Ho was continuously spitting up blood. It wasn’t just that he was spitting up blood, his whole body was covered in it.

His already small body looked even smaller.

“Impressive.”

Tang Hyeong chuckled.

“To not die even after being hit by the Demonic Dragon Cannon. It seems you’ve been putting in some effort in your training within the Ghost Gate.”

Srrk.

Tang Chung-Ho, who had wiped the blood from his mouth, looked up at Tang Hyeong.

Tang Hyeong’s eyes gleamed. He saw an emotion closer to mockery than despair or anger in the eyes of the dying Tang Chung-Ho.

“You’re truly amazing. I thought you might have reached an unprecedented level, but…”

Tang Chung-Ho looked around.

Over a hundred corpses were lying scattered on the ground.

They were all masters of the Ghost Gate.

They were people who had learned high-level stealth techniques that allowed them to hide in the shadows, invisible to the naked eye, but they had all been knocked down by Tang Hyeong’s overwhelming qi blast in a single strike.

Tang Chung-Ho chuckled involuntarily.

Besides the Lion Soul Formation, the Ghost Gate had various other formations, mechanical techniques, poisons, and hidden weapons.

But what good were they? Tang Hyeong had destroyed the Lion Soul Formation with a few kicks, and he had poisoned and killed all these masters with a single qi blast.

Nothing worked. Nothing at all.

“I never thought I would die so futilely.”

“It’s not often that you get back what you give.”

“Yes, I knew that.”

The corners of Tang Chung-Ho’s mouth turned up.

“But you’re not normal either.”

“……”

“I don’t know how you created that martial art, but it’s not normal. To my eyes, your remaining lifespan doesn’t look very long either.”

Tang Hyeong said with a cold face.

“Any last words?”

Tang Chung-Ho, who had been quietly looking at Tang Hyeong, laughed heartily.

“See you in hell, you damn nephew!!”

Fwoooooom!

Tang Chung-Ho’s body exploded and shattered into pieces.

“……”

Tang Hyeong, who had been looking down at the scattered pieces of the corpse, briefly touched his chest.

But that was only for a moment.

“Black Wind, Green Robe.”

“Yes!”

Whoooom.

The faded Golden Heavenly Eye [a technique that enhances perception] once again emitted a mysterious light.

“The second son isn’t the problem. Demons that shouldn’t have entered the main family have set foot inside.”

“……?!”

“I will go to the second son. You…”

In an instant, Tang Hyeong’s eyes scanned dozens of people.

The last person his divine eye, no, his qi eye, captured was a young man wielding twin axes.

“You will drive out the demons with the commander of the Murim Alliance’s reserve unit [a martial arts alliance].”

Whoosh!

Tang Hyeong’s body disappeared from that spot.