Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 660

Whoooosh!

It was a martial art of a different dimension than before.

It was the same person, yet not the same person. They only looked alike, but it was as if an unknown ghost had taken residence inside, performing a merciless sword dance.

Boom! Boom boom boom!

With just a single wave of his hand, explosions erupted everywhere.

It was impossible to know where he was aiming or how he was doing it. Even a master of similar skill would be caught off guard if they couldn’t read the moment of the power explosion. It was a dark and sharp martial art.

Flash!

He wielded formless energy with lightning speed, but even more impressive than his power projection was his movement.

Ho Yeon-jong’s movements were like that of a panther. His movements between the trees were extremely swift and natural. He used both his legs and hands to move, achieving movements that were nearly impossible for human bones and muscles.

Ho Yeon-jong’s hand slashed through the air.

Crack!

A huge claw mark appeared on a large tree three yards away.

Thud!

It was so deeply gouged that the large tree tilted and eventually fell.

It wasn’t a direct strike with force, but a claw attack from three yards away that shattered and felled a giant tree.

It was a martial art that defied imagination, a sinister and powerful attack that even a trained martial artist’s senses couldn’t read the moment of its release.

However.

‘What is this?’

Even though he was wielding attacks that were faster, stronger, and more subtle than before.

Despite all that, Ho Yeon-jong couldn’t even leave a scratch on his opponent’s body.

‘That guy, he’s moving with more ease than before.’

Wham wham wham!

Planting both hands on the ground, he unleashed a storm of leg techniques that targeted both the lower and upper body.

It was an attack that could be blocked, but not avoided. At least, that’s what Ho Yeon-jong thought.

But the result was different from what he expected. The storm-like leg techniques didn’t even touch his opponent’s clothes.

‘Could it be…’

Whoosh!

Ho Yeon-jong charged straight in and threw a punch.

It was simple but fast and powerful. A cannonball-like fist technique aimed straight for the heart, the first move of the Dark Desolate Divine Fist, the Wind Signal Strike.

Crack!

The wind from the punch, moving in a straight line, shattered four trees.

More terrifying than the power of the wind itself was the pressure that destroyed everything around it. The extreme fist pressure, the complex power projection techniques hidden within a simple movement, created such a brutal energy art.

Sizzle!

The intensely compressed air was released, solidifying the surrounding ground. It was a terrifying martial art.

However.

“…!!”

Ho Yeon-jong’s face hardened.

In his slowly rising vision, he saw Yeon Ho-jeong sitting on a tree branch in the distance, looking at him.

‘He read it?’

It was unbelievable.

‘He gauged the distance of the fist pressure that the Wind Signal Strike swept through, and moved in that instant?!’

The attractive force acting on the area where the power projection passed was enough to break a log.

With that kind of pressure, it would be difficult for anyone to survive. A master of supreme skill could somehow escape with their internal energy, but the problem was that there weren’t many who could read and react to this pressure in that instant.

Yeon Ho-jeong’s evasion was much more agile and sharp than that. It wasn’t that he read the pressure at the moment and avoided it, but it was as if he knew the distance of the pressure release from the start, and had moved back to the exact distance where the wind from the punch stopped.

Swoosh.

Ho Yeon-jong relaxed his stance.

Although he relaxed his stance, the concentration of the dark desolate energy that enveloped his entire body was becoming denser with time.

“You, what are you?”

At first, he thought he was hiding his skills.

But no matter how much he thought about it, that didn’t seem to be the case. This fight was a life-or-death struggle. There was no need to hide his skills and fight moderately according to his opponent’s strength.

Then there was only one answer.

“…Do you know this martial art?”

Thud!

White dust rose above Yeon Ho-jeong’s feet as he stepped onto the ground.

Yeon Ho-jeong silently took a stance.

With his left hand, which held nothing, he pointed at Ho Yeon-jong, and with his right hand holding the Heavenly Passage, he raised it above his head.

It was a truly appalling sight, Ho Yeon-jong thought.

He was holding such a large weapon in one hand without showing any signs of strain. Of course, Ho Yeon-jong could easily do the same, but the problem was the pressure.

It was a heavy weapon, a long weapon, and at the same time, a giant weapon.

The sight of Yeon Ho-jeong, holding that terrifying weapon high in one hand and glaring at him with a colorless, transparent face, looked like a general of purgatory commanding the devils of hell.

“Well, I didn’t think you’d tell me willingly just because I asked.”

Thud!

Ho Yeon-jong, clashing his fists together, lowered his stance again.

He had mastered the Dark Desolate Martial Art, but the Dark Desolate Martial Art itself was not a perfect martial art. No martial art in the world could be perfect.

A disadvantage, if it could be called that, of the Dark Desolate Martial Art was that there was a preparation time before it could be perfectly executed. It took some time for the dark desolate energy to settle perfectly in every part of the meridians.

And now, the dark desolate energy, which had gradually expanded and penetrated every part of his body, had become one with him.

“I’ll tear off your limbs. If you’re a master of your level, you’ll still be able to talk even if your limbs are torn off.”

Swoosh.

Ho Yeon-jong’s body suddenly expanded!

The muscles all over his body swelled instantly. His overdeveloped back muscles curved, and his physique also bent like that of a beast.

It was the Mad Panther Martial Body, one of the most prominent fighting techniques of the Evil Sound Sect. Ho Yeon-jong had figured out how to execute the Dark Desolate Martial Art and the Mad Panther Martial Body at the same time.

“…”

A brief silence.

And then.

Whoooosh!

The two beasts charged at each other as if they had agreed to it.

Wham wham wham!

Ho Yeon-jong’s fists were swung at an incredible speed.

There was no straight trajectory, only curved movements. That’s why it was fast and smooth. But the power contained in those fists held the force of destruction.

Yeon Ho-jeong also swung the Heavenly Passage faster than ever before.

Clang! Clang clang! Clang!

The axe techniques and fist techniques collided head-on, creating brutal shockwaves.

Crack crack crack!

The shockwaves spreading in five directions around the two of them devastated the area.

‘This bastard!’

Boom boom boom boom!

Ho Yeon-jong’s fist techniques, having entered the Mad Panther Martial Body state, possessed tremendous speed, elasticity, and destructive power.

However, the destructive power generated by Yeon Ho-jeong’s Heavenly Passage was greater than Ho Yeon-jong’s. The power of the Heavenly Passage, swung with the two feet supporting the earth, the rotation of the waist, and the elasticity of the upper body, was literally a heaven-breaking attack.

‘I didn’t know he was this strong!’

Swish!

The shoulder part of Ho Yeon-jong’s clothing was sharply torn and flew away.

Swoosh!

The clothing on Yeon Ho-jeong’s side was reduced to dust and scattered.

They fought while targeting each other’s weaknesses and blocking the shockwaves exploding right in front of them. If they failed to block an attack that penetrated their defenses, they would die, but if they failed to block the shockwaves generated head-on, they would also die.

A fight full of destructive power that made the onlookers’ eyes widen.

Yeon Ho-jeong’s Heavenly Passage tore through the air, while Ho Yeon-jong’s fist shook the earth. Ho Yeon-jong’s claw attacks tore through space, while the shaft of the Heavenly Passage created shockwaves like ripples.

The weeds on the ground were all reduced to dust and scattered. Within a radius of twenty yards around the two of them, everything was broken and shattered as if an earthquake had struck.

A head-on battle between masters beyond imagination, and because neither of them could gain an advantage, the shockwaves became even more intense.

Boom!

Yeon Ho-jeong’s upper body turned to the left.

In terms of strength and destructive power, Yeon Ho-jeong was a step above, but in terms of speed and elasticity, Ho Yeon-jong was a step above. He finally found an opening and landed a blow a step faster, and Yeon Ho-jeong’s attack was cut off.

Murderous intent flashed in Ho Yeon-jong’s eyes.

‘Now!’

Whoooosh!

From Ho Yeon-jong’s palms, a force like a tidal wave erupted.

It targeted Yeon Ho-jeong’s entire body without distinguishing between the lower and upper body. It was an attack that could be made because he was sure that the opponent could not avoid it, once the flow had been broken.

‘Even if he escapes this attack…’

Kwaaaaaang!

With a tremendous explosion, Yeon Ho-jeong slid back about ten yards.

His retreating feet created deep furrows in the ground. His legs were buried up to his shins, and it was a wonder that nothing was broken.

Swoosh!

Ho Yeon-jong had already approached one yard to the right of Yeon Ho-jeong.

‘That crazy bastard! He blocked that?!’

He still couldn’t avoid it. But he blocked it.

Just before the force swept over Yeon Ho-jeong, Ho Yeon-jong saw a semi-transparent black barrier rising from Yeon Ho-jeong’s front.

It was a barrier of water energy. The energy art of the True Martial Great Emperor Barrier from the Twelve Walls of the Northern Heaven of the Black Tortoise Art [a defensive technique] had blocked Ho Yeon-jong’s force.

But it didn’t completely block it, as Yeon Ho-jeong’s body was still shaking.

‘It was impressive, but it ends here.’

Flash!

Ho Yeon-jong’s fist aimed for Yeon Ho-jeong’s side.

It was the Dark Desolate Divine Fist, the Desolate Howling Meteor.

‘Die!’

Whoosh!

The fist, swung with intense heat and light like an actual meteor, seemed to possess tremendous power just by looking at it.

That’s when it happened.

Thwack!

“Cough!”

Ho Yeon-jong’s body, having been struck in the face by a heavy elbow, flew five yards and crashed to the ground.

Splat!

A waterfall of blood poured from his broken nose.

Ho Yeon-jong was dazed. He quickly straightened his posture and fixed his broken nose, but the surprise didn’t disappear.

‘What? How?’

Sizzle sizzle sizzle.

Yeon Ho-jeong, with his head lowered, had white smoke rising from his shoulders and back.

“Not bad.”

Flash!

Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes, as he raised his head, were dyed white with the light of a beast.

“Your form training is near perfect. Indeed, that bastard had a reason to keep you alive instead of killing you.”

“What?!”

“Now it’s my turn.”

Flames erupted from Yeon Ho-jeong’s feet.

Flash!

Horror appeared on Ho Yeon-jong’s face.

The moment a terrifying fire energy exploded, Yeon Ho-jeong was already right in front of him.

The speed of the Blood Wing Sky Dance, which was achieved by enduring a brutal consumption of internal energy, was slightly faster than Ho Yeon-jong’s.

And from there.

The Four Divine Martial Arts of Yeon Ho-jeong, who had opened the Limitless, the true White Tiger Art’s Tiger King Nine Thunderous Strikes, revealed itself.

Roar!

Behind the roar of the mountain lord that shook the mountains and forests.

The will of a tiger was imbued in Yeon Ho-jeong’s Heavenly Passage.

Crack!

The exploding power projection was like the roar of a tiger.

It was just a simple swing, but its momentum was that of a king of the mountains. The power of a single strike was immense, but the explosion itself became a sonic attack that shook the enemy’s mind. It was the Tiger’s Roar.

Clang! Clang!

Once, and then twice.

The gap between them was close to nothing. Just as a tiger’s fangs pierce the neck of its prey, Yeon Ho-jeong’s Heavenly Passage became the tiger’s fangs, leaving two streaks on the ground. It was the Tiger’s Fang.

Whoosh! Kwaaaang!

The Heavenly Passage, advancing in a left-right diagonal line with the White Tiger Monarch’s Steps, generated ultimate destructive power. It was the Tiger King.

The first three moves of the Tiger King Nine Thunderous Strikes, the Tiger’s Roar Kill, the Tiger’s Fang Kill, and the Tiger King Kill, unfolded in a series, pressuring Ho Yeon-jong.

Ho Yeon-jong, retreating madly, was in a state of utter shock. In an instant, the person had changed, displaying a free-spirited yet impossible-to-break form martial art, and its level was higher than the Mad Panther Martial Body.

Thwack!

Both of Ho Yeon-jong’s forearms were covered in blood. Although the dark desolate energy barrier prevented his muscles from being cut, a terrible pain rose from his arms, which had been torn by an axe blade.

But it didn’t end there.

The advancing martial art, the Tiger King Nine Thunderous Strikes, was a martial art of the Tiger’s Ferocity, consisting of nine moves.

The remaining six moves were released one by one, revealing their true value.

Yeon Ho-jeong took a powerful step forward.

Thud!

The forest, swept by a typhoon, screamed.