Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 677

‘That’s him.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes narrowed.

The moment he was spotted, his opponent was rushing toward him with terrifying speed.

‘That’s their leader.’

A thick vein pulsed on Yeon Ho-Jeong’s jaw.

The strange unease he had felt since leaving the Jongnam main headquarters…

That unease was reminiscent of his days as the Dark Emperor. Back then, his senses were so honed from countless battles that he could almost read the very will of the air.

In other words, this attack was that dangerous—enough to awaken the insights he had gained during his time as the Dark Emperor.

The problem was that he wasn’t at the level where he could unleash the same martial prowess as back then.

Suddenly, his conversation with Paeyul came to mind.

‘If it’s about a moment of enlightenment, that’s open to me as well. The difference is whether I ignore that enlightenment and only increase the output of my martial arts, or whether I develop slowly but gain everything along with that enlightenment.’

‘I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Isn’t it the same thing in the end? You need enlightenment to become stronger.’

Enlightenment leads to an increase in martial power.

That was common sense for martial artists. There were many cases of people leaping over three or four stages with a single flash of enlightenment, becoming powerful masters.

However, in the realm of the Absolute, this chaotic domain, enlightenment and the increase in martial power couldn’t be viewed as the same thing.

Enlightenment could influence the increase in martial arts, but it could also cause a decline in skill. Conversely, there were cases where one gained enlightenment while thoroughly increasing combat ability, but the increase in combat ability could also lead to the loss of enlightenment, turning one into a fighting puppet who only knew how to fight.

During his time as the Dark Emperor, Yeon Ho-Jeong was thoroughly the latter. He had no interest in enlightenment. He lived with the goal of destroying the enemy and ensuring the safety of his allies, rather than completing ‘himself.’

Fortunately, he did not experience a decline in enlightenment due to the increase in martial power, but there were times when he felt like he had forgotten something, or when he had to ponder principles he had naturally acquired as if breathing.

He was starting to break down.

A person who had stepped into the supreme realm that only the chosen could reach was losing himself and becoming a puppet who only knew how to wield swords and spears.

It was that part that surprised him when he heard Ha Eun-Gyo’s words.

‘Being able to wield the ultimate power not allowed to humans also means that you can face the ultimate trials that humans cannot withstand. Just like when you were consumed by killing intent earlier.’

He didn’t show it, but he was greatly shocked by those words.

He had entered this realm while fighting the minions of the Blood Cult in the Tang Clan. [Tang Clan: A powerful martial arts clan]

However, he had not tried to truly understand this realm. He was only interested in the maximum martial power that could be exerted in this realm.

In other words, he was complacent because he had obtained something familiar. He had been in this realm before, so he had assumed he knew it all and moved on.

‘That shouldn’t have been the case.’

Even though it was a moment when he should have been focusing on his opponent, Yeon Ho-Jeong calmly continued his thoughts.

‘That shouldn’t have been the case. I am not the Dark Emperor. As the Green Wall Tiger General, I am similar to him but completely different. The process of looking into my current realm was absolutely necessary.’

He felt a pang of regret.

Regretful, but also fortunate. Thanks to the peerless master, the Yin Emperor, he had restored his mind that was on the verge of breaking down. From now on, he just needed to solidify his position as the Green Wall Tiger General, not the Dark Emperor.

And now that he was aware of that.

Yeon Ho-Jeong was able to take another step forward.

Flash!

The excessive tension disappeared, and his eyes, which had been filled with hostility and worry, became as calm as a lake.

He had gained a small but absolutely crucial realization. In this short moment, Yeon Ho-Jeong had become a different person from who he was before arriving here.

Whoooosh!

With a single realization, the Guangmyeong Divine Pill [Guangmyeong Divine Pill: A powerful medicinal pill] let out a cry of joy.

Ts ts ts.

The true energy he had consumed while coming here was rapidly replenished. The minor internal injuries that had not yet fully healed also began to heal as quickly as the true energy was recovering.

‘Amazing.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong smiled.

‘This is a first.’

A single realization had maximized the speed of his body’s recovery.

It did not bring about an increase in martial power, but it was a very meaningful moment.

Of course, Yeon Ho-Jeong did not forget reality.

‘My body is getting better every moment due to the rapid recovery. Even so, the gap between me and my opponent is clear. If it’s a simple head-on fight, I won’t be able to beat him in my current state.’

It was both an expectation and a certainty.

‘I didn’t come here to win. Also, the enemy is a minion of the Demonic Sound Cult, but I am not the Dark Emperor. There’s no need to get heated.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong closed his eyes.

‘Like the countless enemies I’ve faced so far, may the enemy general I see now be remembered as a meaningful and powerful foe for my future self.’

And then.

Whoosh!

Finally, Myeong Geuk reached the peak.

Yeon Ho-Jeong opened his eyes.

“…”

The two men stood about ten yards apart, looking at each other.

Even a supreme master could erase a ten-yard distance in an instant. For the two who had reached the Absolute, this distance was both far and extremely close.

Whoooooosh.

The wind blowing on the high mountain peak was quite strong.

Myeong Geuk was the first to speak.

“Amazing.”

He was a few years older than Ga Deuk-Sang, almost forty years old.

However, his voice was clear and vibrant like that of a young man in his twenties. In the midst of that, his tone was strangely languid, making him a very unique presence.

“Even though I thought it was impossible, I wondered if one of the Thirteen Seats of the Sacred Heaven had come. I didn’t feel any presence, but I somehow felt like you weren’t here to fight, so I relaxed a bit….”

“…”

“I didn’t expect you to be younger than me. You’re really amazing.”

Myeong Geuk rarely praised others. In the first place, there was no reason to. Having lived for forty years as a so-called genius, he had rarely met anyone he could acknowledge as better than himself.

But now.

Even if he underestimated him, the fact that a young man who was at least ten years younger than him had reached this level filled Myeong Geuk with surprise and admiration, rather than jealousy or anger.

“I’ve heard that there are countless extraordinary people in the martial world, like grains of sand on the beach. Well, I haven’t seen the sea yet, though.”

“…”

“But no matter how I think about it, you don’t seem like a hermit.”

Myeong Geuk’s gaze landed on the handles of the hand axes sticking out from both sides of Yeon Ho-Jeong’s waist.

And also on the huge axe in his hand.

“Could it be, are you Yeon Ho-Jeong?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong nodded.

“Yes, I am Yeon Ho-Jeong.”

“……Huh!”

Myeong Geuk let out a hollow laugh.

“There was a lot of talk about you being the best of the younger generation, but this isn’t just the level of the younger generation, is it?”

“Does it seem that way?”

“I heard you’ve messed up a lot of our plans. I wondered what kind of guy you were, since you were at the forefront and caused so much trouble….”

Myeong Geuk nodded.

“If a man of this caliber is the true power of the enemy who has ruined so much of what we’ve prepared, then it’s understandable.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes gleamed.

“You’re quite calm.”

“Me?”

“Who else would I be talking about here besides you?”

If a young man, who was an enemy, suddenly said something like that, it would be hard not to get angry.

However, Myeong Geuk did not get angry. Rather, he was intrigued. He felt like he wouldn’t see such a talented person again.

Myeong Geuk smiled.

Even though he was someone who had grown up facing the harsh winds of the outer regions, his smile was as clear as a child’s.

“At first, I was surprised. It was strange, and I even wondered if I had suddenly gone crazy. But now I know that’s not the case.”

“You mean there’s no reason to be nervous.”

“There’s no reason to be overly nervous.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong tilted his head.

“You’re a bit different.”

“Me? If you think about the cult members you’ve met so far… of course, we can’t be the same. Everything is different, including martial arts, skill, and position.”

That wasn’t what he meant.

In the past, Yeon Ho-Jeong had fought countless masters that the Demonic Sound Cult boasted about.

He hadn’t fought them all, but he had exchanged blows with most of the famous ones in the cult, and he had killed more than half of them.

But this guy was a first.

He seemed to have inherited the power of the Yin Emperor’s martial arts like Hoyeonjong, but it didn’t seem like pure Yin Emperor martial arts. It wasn’t like Hoyeonjong, who used it with another martial art, but it seemed like it was mixed with an unknown study, emitting a strange energy.

‘Dangerous.’

The hand holding the Heaven Piercing Talisman [Heaven Piercing Talisman: A powerful artifact] grew cold.

‘It’s certain that it’s a study I don’t know. It’s become more dangerous than I thought.’

He was the only one who could match this enemy general right now. Whether it was now or later, if a fight started, it seemed like it would be twice as dangerous as he had expected.

“Well, anyway.”

Myeong Geuk sat down on a protruding rock, leaning his buttocks against it.

It was a comfortable and relaxed posture. It seemed like he was sure that Yeon Ho-Jeong wouldn’t attack.

“If you’re Yeon Ho-Jeong, you must have come from Jongnam, and if that’s the case, you must know that we’ve come to attack Jongnam.”

“Of course.”

“I don’t know how you read us from that far away, but it’s clear that you’re much more sensitive than I thought. It seems like your martial arts can’t keep up with your senses, though.”

“…”

“Coming all the way here directly doesn’t seem like it’s to disrupt our forces.”

Myeong Geuk asked languidly.

“Did you come to meet me?”

He was sharp.

Yeon Ho-Jeong was quite surprised by his opponent’s keen perception.

“That’s right.”

“There’s no reason to come all the way to find me. Except for a few reasons.”

Myeong Geuk smiled.

“If you were confident, you would have tried to kill me here, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.”

He was more than he expected.

Until now, it was Yeon Ho-Jeong’s job to read the opponent’s intentions and make the first move. No opponent had ever been able to keep up with Yeon Ho-Jeong’s perception and mind.

But Myeong Geuk was different.

Even if not his mind, his perception alone seemed to be on par with Yeon Ho-Jeong. The way he approached the truth step by step was extremely similar to Yeon Ho-Jeong’s.

“Did you come to buy time?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had been quietly watching Myeong Geuk, clicked his tongue.

“Yes, that’s right. I came to buy time.”

An unexpected look appeared on Myeong Geuk’s face.

“You’re admitting that so honestly?”

“It doesn’t seem like you’d believe me even if I said no.”

“Hahahaha!”

Myeong Geuk laughed loudly, as if he was very pleased.

“Yes, it’s not a good habit to look down on your opponent with clumsy lies. Even though you’re an enemy, I really like you.”

“Too bad. I don’t like you.”

“I’m not interested in that.”

Myeong Geuk got off the rock.

“If you came to buy time without any intention of fighting, then I should move in the opposite direction. I should move my forces now while Jongnam isn’t properly prepared.”

Myeong Geuk grinned.

“It was a short but memorable meeting. Let’s meet again in Jongnam.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong, who had been staring at Myeong Geuk, scratched his head.

“It’s a shame you’re so perceptive. But there’s one thing you’re mistaken about.”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t have the confidence to kill you, but I do intend to fight.”

“What?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong smiled coldly.

“I said I came to buy time. I was planning to make a fool of you while chatting comfortably, but it seems like you don’t want to talk anymore, so I guess I have no choice but to chop you with my axe, right?”

“……You’re going to buy time while fighting me?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think that’s possible?”

“If you really don’t want to, how about this.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong slammed the Heaven Piercing Talisman on the ground and lightly shook his hands.

“The place where your forces are stationed is closer than the distance from here to Jongnam, right?”

“…”

“I don’t know about anything else, but I don’t think I’ll lose to you in a race.”

Myeong Geuk’s eyes turned cold.