Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 648

Tiiing!

“Ah?”

Seol-hyang’s eyes widened as she saw the golden string her master used break once again.

The woman gave a bitter smile.

“It broke again.”

“Master…”

“It’s alright. I’ll take care of this, so you should go and rest.”

Seol-hyang, who had been looking at the woman with a flustered expression, bowed her head.

“I’ll go brew some tea.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“There’s still some Tieguanyin tea [a type of Chinese oolong tea] left that you like, Master.”

The woman smiled.

“I want to be alone today. Why don’t you take a break from your studies and enjoy some rest?”

Her master was more benevolent than anyone else, but when it came to learning, she was strict. If her master was saying this, it truly meant that today’s studies were over.

Seol-hyang bowed her head.

“Then, I’ll go down to the village for a bit. Please rest well, Master.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Soon after, Seol-hyang left the room.

The woman, who had been fiddling with the broken string, placed the gold in a corner of the room and went outside.

Whooong.

The wind blowing over the hill was very cold.

There were countless steep mountain peaks. It was desolate, but also magnificent.

The woman, who had been walking calmly step by step, reached the end of the hill and looked up at the sky.

Whooong! Whoooong!

The wind seemed to be getting stronger.

The woman smiled.

“It’s a good wind.”

It was the kind of weather where even a common person would feel cold even with thick fur clothes on.

But not the woman.

Her appearance was that of a woman in her early thirties, boasting a mature beauty, but in reality, she was over sixty years old. The absolute level of her inner energy [a concept in martial arts referring to the energy within the body] was preventing her from aging.

However, she was currently in a situation where she couldn’t properly use her inner energy, but that was only in terms of martial arts. The inner energy and body she had cultivated throughout her life always kept her body in top condition.

The problem was her mind.

‘When will it be?’

A shadow fell over the woman, Ha Eun-Gyo’s face.

‘When will I be able to leave this place?’

Ha Eun-Gyo regretted it.

She regretted breaking her vow to remain an artist for life and becoming obsessed with martial arts, intoxicated by power.

If she had lived as an artist her whole life, she wouldn’t have suffered such humiliation. No matter how good one’s martial arts are, is it as good as a lifetime of freedom?

Her passion, which didn’t know moderation, had elevated her talent to the highest level, but at the same time, it had taken much from her.

When she realized it, it was already too late.

‘I should have known my place.’

Tears welled up in Ha Eun-Gyo’s eyes.

‘I thought I could cut it off cruelly.’

She could cut off love. No, she had to, and she still felt betrayed. She had forgotten love. But she couldn’t cut off her maternal love.

Even when her child was growing in her womb, she was confident. She thought she could cut it off. She would give birth because she valued the life of the child she had already conceived, but she thought she could easily detach herself after giving birth.

She had actually detached herself temporarily. She had abandoned her child once.

But a day after abandoning her child, she felt as if the sky was falling. She looked for her child again, but the people who had taken her child were nowhere to be found. She couldn’t even find a trace. She made inquiries in various ways to find a trace, but she still couldn’t find it.

Twenty-five years passed like that.

Then, she received an offer from the place that had taken her child.

Since then, Ha Eun-Gyo had abandoned her own life. And five years had passed.

The past five years had been a path of atonement and a path of unbreakable motherhood.

During that time, there were moments when she couldn’t bear her lack of freedom, like now.

But that freedom was ultimately the freedom to see her child. She thought that if she could just see her child’s face, she would choose that life even if it was just for one day.

‘When will I be able to see them?’

They said it would be over soon.

They said they would give her freedom soon. They said she could spend the rest of her life with her child.

Ha Eun-Gyo didn’t believe their words.

Even so, she had some experience in the martial world. She knew too well how treacherous and dirty the world was.

Perhaps, they might not even have her child. In the worst case… her child might not even be alive anymore.

But what if, just in case, her child was alive?

What if their offer was true, and she could see her child soon?

Ha Eun-Gyo couldn’t let go of that faint possibility. She had been holding on until now because she couldn’t let go of that one possibility.

“I’m sorry.”

Thud.

Eventually, tears flowed from Ha Eun-Gyo’s eyes.

“You can stab a knife into your mother’s heart. You can laugh at me, you can resent me, what can I say?”

What child in the world could understand a parent who abandoned them?

“But, if only I could see your face just once…”

Ha Eun-Gyo cried endlessly.

The sun in the mid-sky moved to the west, and she continued to cry until the clear moon rose.

* * *

“Hoo.”

A middle-aged man took a deep breath in and out, a subtle admiration on his face.

“It’s definitely different.”

He hadn’t noticed it when he arrived, but after sleeping soundly for a day and taking a deep breath, the air was definitely different.

“The continent… I don’t care about the pride of those who talk about the Central Plains [a historical region in China], but the air is definitely cleaner than our homeland. It’s very refreshing.”

The scenery was also art. If you just turned your head, you could see countless steep mountain peaks stretching out in a magnificent view.

It was a majestic sight. If he had the time, he would conquer all the mountains of Shaanxi [a province in China] and unleash this burning spirit of adventure.

“It can’t be helped.”

Even he couldn’t ignore the orders given from above.

Of course, he would have ignored most orders. In the first place, it was hard to find someone who could give him orders.

However, he couldn’t disobey the cult leader’s orders.

The only person who could control him, a wild horse, was the cult leader. Even the incarnation of myth or the demon of mad blood couldn’t move him, but the master of the Yin was different.

The middle-aged man, Ho Yeon-jong, turned his head and looked up at a small hill.

His eyes deepened for a moment.

‘That’s the place.’

Ho Yeon-jong, who had been quietly looking up at the hill, left his residence and walked towards the valley.

Shortly after.

“Huk!”

“We greet the Third Protector!”

The masked men, who had been moving in an orderly fashion, knelt towards Ho Yeon-jong.

Ho Yeon-jong didn’t even acknowledge their greetings and headed towards an old man who was fiddling with something on a wide flat stone next to the valley.

The old man glanced at Ho Yeon-jong.

“Have you come?”

Ho Yeon-jong nodded.

The old man grumbled.

“You’re very fast, probably because you’re young. I thought it would take you ten more days.”

“I’m past sixty, how am I young?”

“Has it already been that long?”

Ho Yeon-jong said bluntly.

“A half-god bloodline who hasn’t proven themselves is eliminated before forty. And I was forty twenty-three years ago.”

“You’re still young if you remember such things.”

“There’s nothing I can’t say to an old man.”

“Your rudeness is still the same.”

“The old man who calls a protector rude also has the same mouth.”

The old man chuckled.

“Third Protector… You’re amazing. You’re probably the first among us to reach the position of protector.”

“The old man is probably the first half-god bloodline who has lived to that age without any talent in martial arts.”

“Enough, take a look at this.”

The old man handed over a small, black iron ball.

It was called an iron ball, but its size was just enough to fit in an adult man’s hand.

Ho Yeon-jong’s eyes lit up.

“Is this the Scattering Sound Divine Bullet?”

“It’s an improved version of the Scattering Sound Divine Bullet. The name is the same, but its power is different from before.”

“But isn’t it useless without the mind technique that that bitch passed down?”

The old man blinked.

“You didn’t learn that mind technique?”

Ho Yeon-jong looked at the old man with a look that said it was obvious.

“Why would I learn such a childish mind technique?”

“How are you going to use this without that mind technique?”

“I just won’t use it. There are plenty of useful things.”

The old man frowned.

“Think about the worst-case scenario.”

“There is no worst-case scenario.”

Whooong.

The Scattering Sound Divine Bullet that rose from Ho Yeon-jong’s hand began to rotate around his body at a terrifying speed.

Swaeeeeeeek!

It was moving so fast that at some point, the old man lost track of the movement of the Scattering Sound Divine Bullet that was swirling around Ho Yeon-jong’s body.

The old man was also a person who had mastered martial arts at the level of a supreme master. Even with the eyes of such a master, he couldn’t catch the movement. It was a spine-chilling rotation speed.

Ho Yeon-jong reached out his hand.

Clack!

A subtle smoke rose from the Scattering Sound Divine Bullet that was sucked into his hand.

The old man said with a displeased face.

“You didn’t break it, did you?”

Ho Yeon-jong smiled.

“I suppressed the sound with my inner energy. Would I have damaged this precious item?”

“Give it here.”

Ho Yeon-jong handed the Scattering Sound Divine Bullet to the old man.

The Scattering Sound Divine Bullet was quite hot. Even though he had controlled both the speed and the wind with his inner energy, he couldn’t control the surface temperature of the iron ball, which had been heated by friction with the air.

But even this was enough to be shocking.

The old man asked in a calm voice.

“How far have you mastered it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Yin Wasteland Martial Arts. You seem to have become stronger than you were five years ago.”

Ho Yeon-jong shook his head.

“I reached the pinnacle long ago.”

“Amazing.”

“It’s not amazing to have trained to the extreme. What’s really important is how far you can go with a completely mastered martial art, not just reaching the extreme.”

Ho Yeon-jong gave a strange smile.

“You’ve also learned martial arts, so you should know that, right?”

The old man turned his head.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been involved with martial arts. The reason I’ve survived this long is because I have talents other than martial arts.”

“Indeed, you’ve even been given the title of Divine Mechanic, so how could it not be so?”

Displeasure appeared on the old man’s face.

“Don’t call me by that title. I’m just an old man with no name or title.”

“Alright, old man.”

Ho Yeon-jong crossed his arms.

“By the way, have you heard?”

“Heard what?”

“About the situation in Sichuan [a province in China].”

“…?”

“It seems you haven’t heard. The Paradise Plan has been shattered.”

For a moment, surprise appeared on the old man’s face.

“Shattered?”

“To be precise, it seems to be in the process of being shattered. The Tang family’s affairs didn’t go as planned either. It’s said that the Tang family head has joined hands with the Beggar Clan’s fox and is cleaning up Sichuan.”

“…I can’t believe it. They even dispatched the Death Souls from the Mad Blood. I was the one who gave them the Scattering Sound Divine Bullets.”

“It’s not just the Death Souls. I don’t know the details, but I heard that even the former Six Great Commanders were summoned. But it seems they were still blocked.”

“Could it be…”

The old man’s eyes trembled.

“Did the Dark King step in?”

“He must have stepped in. But he said that the old man alone couldn’t explain it. It seems that they started being swept away in an instant, so there must have been a pretty great helper in the middle.”

“Huh!”

The old man shook his head.

“Has the business that we’ve poured over ten years into collapsed in an instant?”

“Isn’t it a good thing? While we and the Divine side were doing things, the Mad Blood was only in charge of Sichuan. They should get a taste of their own medicine.”

“That’s nonsense! The fight between factions only has meaning after the conquest of the continent. Sichuan shouldn’t have collapsed, no matter what.”

“I don’t care.”

It was as if he was dismissing it as something that had nothing to do with him. Only languor filled Ho Yeon-jong’s face as he spoke indifferently.

Ho Yeon-jong looked at the hill in the distance.

“That must be it, right? The place where that bitch called the Yin Empress is.”

“Yes.”

“What a stupid woman. To be so attached to her child and give them all sorts of things, it’s ridiculous.”

Discomfort appeared on the old man’s face.

“If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have been able to make these things.”

Ridicule appeared on Ho Yeon-jong’s face. He couldn’t understand the old man who was so passionate about such petty skills, nor could he understand the orders from above.

‘It’s going to be boring for a while.’

Ho Yeon-jong plopped down on the floor.

“By the way…”

“What?”

“Is the Yin Empress’s child really being held by us?”

The old man chuckled.

“Even those who have half of the god’s blood are killed if they don’t prove themselves, do you think the cult leader would care about the lowly bloodline born from a foreign woman?”