Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 762

763. The Devil’s Den, and the Devil’s War (1)

“…….”

On the floor of the Seventh Palace Gate’s East Wall, a man was gazing at the imperial palace. It was Gi Cheon-hyung, the head of the Fire Poison Secret Pavilion of the Shinwha Church.

“…Damn it.”

With his face contorted, he descended from the East Gate.

Whoosh.

It was a strange divine technique. He floated in the air and slowly descended, like a leaf falling in a forest where not a single breeze blew.

Swoosh.

Gi Cheon-hyung, who had landed lightly, looked to his side.

There stood a one-eyed woman, her body devoid of any color. Though a woman, the muscles on her exposed arms were as robust as a strong man’s.

Her physique was also very sturdy, but her one remaining eye was unfocused. Saliva dripped from her slightly open mouth.

Gi Cheon-hyung asked the warrior supporting the one-eyed woman, Hong Ryong-gung,

“How is her condition?”

The warrior shook his head.

“She’s completely lost her mind. It seems she’s even forgotten how to drink water.”

“Damn bitch.”

Gi Cheon-hyung strode towards Hong Ryong-gung and slapped her across the face.

Thwack! Thwack!

Hong Ryong-gung’s face swelled up instantly. Red blood poured from her open mouth and nose.

Gi Cheon-hyung yelled.

“Aren’t you going to come to your senses, you damn bitch!?”

Hong Ryong-gung looked up at Gi Cheon-hyung with her blurry eye.

But that was all. Slowly lowering her head, she mumbled something. It was an unintelligible sound.

Yo Gong, the deputy head of the Fire Poison Secret Pavilion, who was standing to one side, sighed.

“It seems she’s in an irreversible state. Her inner energy is completely tangled.”

“I can see that!”

“Just stop it now…”

“Kill her? Of course, I should kill her!”

Gi Cheon-hyung swung his fist.

Crack!

Hong Ryong-gung was thrown backward and rolled on the floor.

He had hit her so hard that several broken teeth flew into the air. Judging by the gruesome sound, her cheekbones wouldn’t be intact either.

Saaah!

A terrifying killing intent rose from Gi Cheon-hyung’s body.

“I can’t just kill her. I have to beat her to death.”

“Pavilion Lord.”

“She’s the one who ran away in fear even though her superior was captured by the enemy! A member of Hong Ryong did something that even the lowest Shinwha Church follower wouldn’t do!”

Gi Cheon-hyung shouted at the warrior.

“Throw that bitch in the latrine! I’ll beat her to death when I’m done with my work!”

“Yes.”

The warrior picked up Hong Ryong-gung and walked north.

Gi Cheon-hyung, who had been panting with excitement, took a breath.

Yo Gong cautiously asked.

“Is it really true?”

“…….”

“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t believe what those guys are saying. Deputy Pavilion Lord Gi Woo-heon is not someone who would be captured by the enemy, is he? He’s not only skilled in martial arts, but his loyalty is also exceptional.”

Gi Cheon-hyung also agreed with Yo Gong’s words.

Although he hated the guy’s guts, his abilities and loyalty were undeniable.

The fact that he had done everything he was told without complaint, despite hating him so much, was because he acknowledged that he was always working for the Shinwha Church.

He was a guy who had been confident even in the face of a master’s killing intent. Rather than being captured by the enemy, he would have detonated his fire core and committed suicide on the spot.

That’s what he thought. But he couldn’t be sure.

“You felt it too, didn’t you?”

“Yes?”

“The early morning a few days ago. The day the battle broke out in the imperial palace.”

“…….”

“Until now, Gi Woo-heon has handled everything that happened in the palace alone. It would have been the same that time. He must have been confident.”

“That’s probably right.”

“But he failed. He’s no longer visible. I can’t feel his presence either.”

“…….”

“I think he’s dead. But…”

Gi Cheon-hyung swallowed hard without realizing it.

“If he had been exposed to that killing intent head-on, there’s a possibility that he could have lost his mind. He might have been captured without even having the chance to commit suicide.”

Gi Cheon-hyung and Yo Gong, as well as the masters of the three sects stationed throughout the inner palace, had all trembled at the intense killing intent.

That killing intent was so strong that no one even thought of identifying its source.

Although there were no masters who had opened the gate of extreme [a high level of martial arts mastery] within the inner palace, there were no weaklings either. Gi Cheon-hyung alone, though not as skilled as Gi Woo-heon, possessed martial prowess that would be considered the head of a sect anywhere.

Yet, they had been frozen by that strange killing intent. That day, he couldn’t leave his residence all night.

It wasn’t until dawn that he was able to move, free from the bizarre killing intent. It was a symptom experienced by everyone who had felt the killing intent, not just him.

‘What the hell was that?’

He had never felt such killing intent anywhere. Even the church’s protectors wouldn’t be able to unleash such killing intent.

‘I even saw some kind of illusion. A monster with an unclear shape… with multiple arms and faces.’

Gi Cheon-hyung’s eyes wavered.

Even now, having escaped the fear of that killing intent, his heart trembled reflexively when he thought of it.

Yo Gong opened his mouth.

“Perhaps it was a kind of sorcery.”

If he had heard these words normally, he would have scoffed, asking if that was all he could come up with.

But now, he couldn’t do that. If a master who had opened the gate of extreme had unleashed a killing intent that was difficult to reveal, they might have used a sorcery that they didn’t know about.

If not that.

“Maybe there’s a master in the imperial palace who is comparable to the Church Lord.”

Yo Gong’s eyes wavered.

“Pavilion Lord.”

Gi Cheon-hyung shook his head.

“Of course, the possibility is slim. Our Church Lord is a divine being. Who else could have reached his level except for the masters of the Blood and Yin [a reference to a specific martial arts style or group]?”

“…….”

“However, it’s possible that there’s something that we can’t handle with our abilities.”

“…….”

“We must be careful.”

Even as he spoke, Gi Cheon-hyung felt a sense of frustration.

He was someone who always dismissed caution as timidity. He was naturally hot-tempered and didn’t like to think much.

But caution? Wouldn’t it be better to gather all the troops and launch a full-scale attack, even if it meant death?

After a moment of thought, he asked Yo Gong.

“Where is the Protector?”

Yo Gong bowed his head and replied.

“He is currently at the Three Repentance Warehouse in the northern part of the outer palace.”

Gi Cheon-hyung’s eyes deepened.

“Still?”

“It is said that his original essence was shaken once again when he evaporated a hundred of the Peng family’s troops a few days ago. He needs about half a day to recover 70% of his strength, and the completion of his body… I heard that it will still take a lot of time.”

“Damn it…”

They had been secretly taking over the imperial palace for decades, and they had created secret hideouts throughout the outer palace.

Some of them were equipped with various elixirs and food, and some were equipped with all sorts of magical items focused on recovery.

‘It’s been a few years since he opened his eyes, but I never thought it would be delayed this much.’

Of course, it was much faster than originally expected.

When ‘He’ first started recovering here, they expected it to take twenty years. Since it wasn’t something that could be resolved in a few years, everyone had been waiting leisurely.

But ‘He’ had opened his eyes much faster than expected, and his recovery was also several times faster than expected.

So, the Shinwha Church members had high hopes. They thought that once ‘He’ opened his eyes, they wouldn’t need to use the power of the palace to overthrow the imperial palace.

Perhaps, he might even be appointed as the next successor, surpassing all the current successors.

However, the pace of his recovery slowed down exponentially as his body approached completion.

It was an unexpected result. They thought they would achieve their grand plan ten years earlier than originally planned, but it had become sluggish at the very end.

Of course, if the eunuch had expelled the empress and seized the remaining power of the imperial palace a few days ago, they wouldn’t have cared.

The problem was that the current situation was not good.

“…There’s no other way.”

Gi Cheon-hyung frowned.

“Gather the troops.”

“Yes?”

Yo Gong was startled.

“Are you planning to attack?”

“Just gather them. I’ll meet with the Peng family head first.”

The troops gathered in the imperial palace were thoroughly entrenched, and among them, Peng Mu-gang had negotiated with them several times.

Peng Mu-gang was a cunning negotiator. And the representative of their side, who had lost Gi Woo-heon, was Gi Cheon-hyung. Gi Cheon-hyung was not very good at reading the enemy’s thoughts or assessing the situation.

Not only that, but most of the remaining people were like that. They were glorious fire followers and warriors, but they were not as skilled in military tactics as those from the Fire Cloud Pavilion.

“The firearms that the imperial guards possess are not to be ignored. If a full-scale war breaks out, hundreds of our troops could disappear in an instant.”

“Of course, that’s true. But the imperial guards’ firearms take time to reload. If it’s an all-or-nothing battle, we will have an overwhelming victory.”

“I’m saying this because I’m worried about losing troops that we don’t need to lose.”

These were also not words that Gi Cheon-hyung would normally say. He was constantly losing himself due to an indescribable unease.

“I’m going now. Gather the troops, and when the signal is given, immediately…”

That’s when it happened.

Screeeeeech!

A piercing sound echoed in the air.

Gi Cheon-hyung and Yo Gong turned their heads and looked at the sky.

“…?!”

The two men’s eyes widened.

From the southwest gate in the distance, dozens of arrows were flying.

They were signal arrows. They were not arrows shot to hit the enemy.

Such arrows were flying in a line. At a glance, there were more than thirty.

“What is it!?”

They couldn’t tell where they were being shot from. At a glance, it was a distance of more than two or three hundred yards. No, it was much further away than that.

Thud thud thud!

The signal arrows, flying with sharp sounds, fell sporadically throughout the outer palace.

Gi Cheon-hyung felt that something was amiss.

Whoosh!

Gi Cheon-hyung crossed several palace gates in an instant.

Even with such great divine techniques, it took a considerable amount of time to reach the outer palace. It was truly a staggering width.

“Pavilion Lord!”

The followers who had picked up the fallen signal arrows rushed to Gi Cheon-hyung.

“What’s going on? What is that? Where did it come from!?”

“It’s a disaster! Look at this!”

Gi Cheon-hyung’s eyes widened as he unfolded the letter that the follower handed him.

“…What is this?”

“I-Is it true?”

Gi Cheon-hyung crumpled the letter and unfolded the letters that other followers handed him.

They were all the same. The handwriting was different, but the content was exactly the same.

Shudder.

Gi Cheon-hyung’s hand, holding the letter, began to tremble.

“W-What is this!?”

“What should we do? They’re outside the outer palace right now!”

“…!!”

“Pavilion Lord!”

Gi Cheon-hyung, who had been staring intently at the letter, shouted.

“Call the remaining Hong Ryong and Pavilion members! Tell the Blood and Yin guys to prepare for any possible situation!”

“Yes, yes!”

“And!”

Whoosh!

Gi Cheon-hyung, who had burned the letter, said with a distorted face.

“Tell that Taoist guy too. We might have to release that damn beast.”

* * *

The imperial palace was so vast that Yeon Ho-jeong and Gok Gyeong didn’t know exactly how many masters were inside or how many were stationed there.

However, they could guess how many troops were approaching.

“They’re coming.”

Yeon Ho-jeong looked at Gok Gyeong.

Gok Gyeong nodded.

“I’ll infiltrate from the opposite side. If you feel the presence of the Limitless [likely referring to a master of a very high level], come to my aid immediately. We have to kill them as quickly as possible.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Whoosh!

Gok Gyeong moved west along the wall.

Yeon Ho-jeong headed towards the south gate with Gi Woo-hee.

And a little while later.

Thud thud thud!

The gate opened, and a group of people appeared.

Yeon Ho-jeong smiled coldly and pointed his crescent blade at Gi Woo-hee’s neck.

“Hello?”