Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 770

Crack!

Gi Woo-shin’s body, flung away and scraping against the ground, was in a truly miserable state.

“Ugh, ugh, ugh!”

He coughed up blood once more, his body covered in it.

His sturdy chest was caved in, bearing the imprint of a palm. The chains that had been wrapped around his entire body were now barely clinging to his arms. His skin was torn in many places, and strange flames flickered, burning parts of his hair and eyebrows.

His body trembled. Red and blue flames seeped out from his back.

It was a reversal of his inner energy. The fire energy he possessed was raging, continuing its destruction instead of healing.

He had been struck defenselessly by a blow that used all of his opponent’s strength. It was a miracle he was still alive, but he was as good as dead.

This was what it meant when the outcome of a battle between masters was decided by a hair’s breadth. They would never let their guard down, but if an attack from the Limitless Realm [a high level of martial arts mastery] landed on a gap not protected by inner energy, even the most absolute master would not survive.

“……?!”

Gok Gyeong, who had rendered Gi Woo-shin incapacitated with a single blow, also couldn’t follow up with another attack.

His mouth hung open, and his blank expression was a sight to behold. He himself had never imagined such a result.

“Cough!”

A coughing sound came from somewhere.

Gok Gyeong turned his head.

Yeon-wi, who had appeared from behind the collapsed wall, was spitting out a mouthful of blood.

It wasn’t just blood from his mouth. He was also bleeding dark red blood from his nose, and his complexion was as bad as Gi Woo-shin’s.

Gok Gyeong’s eyes wavered.

‘What was that just now?’

He had drawn upon the power of all three of his dantian points [energy centers in the body], upper, middle, and lower.

That’s why he saw it. The power of his heated upper dantian allowed him to see the blade that was normally invisible to the naked eye.

‘……Could it be?!’

Swoosh.

Yeon-wi rose from his spot.

Blood flowed from his eyes as if his blood vessels had burst. The blood from his nose had stopped, but his body staggered as if he were in extreme pain.

Gok Gyeong stammered as he asked,

“You just now…….”

He had spoken informally without hesitation through telepathy, but now he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

Yeon-wi wiped the blood from his eyes and mouth and asked,

“Did it hit properly?”

Gok Gyeong nodded, looking bewildered.

Yeon-wi sighed.

“That’s a relief.”

When Gi Woo-shin had landed a blow on Gok Gyeong’s side, he had unleashed the Sword of the Mind for the first time.

However, with his current level, he couldn’t block the attack itself. Even though he had pushed back harder than when he faced Gi Woo-heon, he had only managed to reduce the power of the blow by a small amount. Rather, Yeon-wi himself had suffered internal injuries from the rebound of the Sword of the Mind.

No matter how powerful the Sword of the Mind was, it required a strong body and pure inner energy to unleash it. Moreover, his opponent was a master of the Limitless Realm who had opened his sturdy upper dantian, so ordinary attacks would not work.

A blow that could cut through the opponent’s mind and soul.

In other words, he had to deliver a blow that surpassed the level of the upper dantian that a master of the Limitless Realm had reached. If the Sword of the Mind had the power to cut through the mind of such a master, he had to be prepared to have his own upper dantian destroyed.

‘That was dangerous.’

He had split Gi Woo-shin’s upper, middle, and lower dantians with the Sword of the Mind.

At that moment, Yeon-wi had felt death. Before the internal injuries, he had almost died from the rebound of the Sword of the Mind, which had nearly destroyed his upper dantian.

Fortunately, he had survived, but he was still not in a safe condition. He had no time to deal with his severe internal injuries as he was busy controlling the raging divine energy of his upper dantian.

Thud!

However, Yeon-wi’s posture did not falter. He stood tall, using his sword, still in its scabbard, as a cane, as always.

“You…….”

“……?”

Gok Gyeong, who had been staring at Yeon-wi as if in a trance, was suddenly startled by Yeon-wi’s sword.

“The Heavenly Net Imperial Sword?!”

Whoosh!

A fierce aura swirled from Gok Gyeong’s body.

“Where did you get that sword?”

Yeon-wi looked at Gok Gyeong with a puzzled expression.

“Do you know this sword?”

It was quite an antique sword, but that was only noticeable upon close inspection. To the eyes of someone not well-versed in weaponry, it would just look like a plain longsword.

“His Majesty the Emperor bestowed this sword upon this humble one.”

“……!!”

Gok Gyeong’s eyes wavered.

“You met His Majesty?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Is His Majesty…… safe?”

“Of course, he is safe.”

Gok Gyeong let out a sigh of relief.

“Yes, that’s a relief.”

He had thought that there would be nothing wrong with the Emperor’s health, but hearing it like this put his mind at ease.

But that was only for a moment.

“His Majesty bestowed that sword upon you?”

“That’s right.”

Gok Gyeong’s face hardened.

‘His Majesty personally bestowed the Imperial Sword… Is that swordsman such a great person?’

He was one of the few people who knew that the current Emperor’s judgment was second to none.

The Heavenly Net Imperial Sword was one of the three great treasures of the Imperial Palace. It was not a divine weapon as commonly spoken of in the martial world, but it boasted incredible strength, enough to withstand a blow from a master of the Limitless Realm without breaking.

That alone was impressive enough, but the true value of the Imperial Sword lay elsewhere.

‘The Sword of Loyalty and Wisdom.’

The Heavenly Net Imperial Sword was also known as the Sword of Loyalty and Wisdom, a symbolic treasure bestowed upon the most meritorious general of the Empire.

There had only been two generals who had been bestowed the Heavenly Net Imperial Sword throughout history. One was the one who had risked his life to protect the Emperor when the country was turned upside down by a rebellion, and the other was the one who had protected the country from falling into ruin due to foreign invasion.

Yeon-wi had received such a great treasure. He had become the third owner of the Imperial Sword in history.

Even though he was just a member of a martial arts clan in the martial world.

Gok Gyeong, who had been moving his lips several times, spoke in a somewhat subdued voice.

“Keep that sword safe until you die.”

“Of course, I will cherish it like my own body.”

“It shouldn’t end with just cherishing it like your own body. Do you know how valuable that sword is?”

“It is an unparalleled honor just to have received a sword from His Majesty the Emperor.”

Gok Gyeong became frustrated.

“The value of that sword is far greater than you think!”

“To me, it is just a sword.”

“What, what did you say?!”

“Since His Majesty bestowed it upon me, I will use this sword to target the evil doers who disturb the world. That is all.”

Gok Gyeong was dumbfounded.

The Heavenly Net Imperial Sword would make one’s name known for eternity just by possessing it. Yet, this stubborn swordsman was treating it as just another sword.

‘……!’

Gok Gyeong, who was about to shout something, sighed.

‘Well, if it’s His Majesty…’

Although he was serving him, the Emperor’s personality was unconventional in many ways. As Yeon-wi said, there was a high possibility that he had given it for that purpose.

But even so, using a treasure sword bestowed by the Emperor so casually would be impossible for anyone with a normal temperament.

“Anyway, I see where that impudent guy got his guts from.”

Yeon-wi’s eyes wavered for a moment.

“Have you met my son?”

Gok Gyeong frowned.

“You didn’t know? The guy fighting the demon at the south gate right now is your son.”

“……!!”

Alarm filled Yeon-wi’s face.

“That, that master fighting the demon?”

“I heard he recently got a fancy nickname. He killed the Tyrant King Gongsun Baekryong, so the world is bound to be noisy.”

Gok Gyeong’s face contorted.

“Still, what’s with the Tyrant King, the Tyrant King.”

“……!”

“Ahem, you must be happy to have such a talented son.”

His tone was full of sarcasm.

However, Yeon-wi didn’t pay any attention to Gok Gyeong’s tone.

‘That guy.’

The power of the demon he had felt was no less than that of Gok Gyeong here. No, in some ways, it was even greater.

In other words, it meant that he was a powerhouse of the Saintly Heaven level [another high level of martial arts mastery], and his son was fighting against such a master.

‘He killed the Tyrant King? You rascal, when did you get that strong?!’

A surge of emotion welled up in Yeon-wi’s face.

Gok Gyeong clicked his tongue.

“It seems you didn’t know. Well, I heard you were separated.”

Yeon-wi’s expression, as he kept laughing in disbelief, was a sight to behold.

Gok Gyeong, who had been quietly watching Yeon-wi, chuckled and said,

“The son reaches the Limitless Realm before thirty, and the father uses the Sword of the Mind before the Limitless Realm. Seriously, it’s clear that you’ll be praised as the greatest family in the world.”

“It’s not a good thing to talk about being the greatest in the world just because you’re good at martial arts.”

“Fine, fine. Well, let’s leave the talk at that…”

Gok Gyeong looked at Gi Woo-shin.

Even during their conversation, Gok Gyeong’s inner energy was thoroughly suppressing Gi Woo-shin’s body. Because of that, Gi Woo-shin still hadn’t regained his senses.

Gok Gyeong’s eyes immediately turned fierce.

“Thanks to you, I got to stretch my body for a while. Farewell.”

Gok Gyeong raised his right hand. The energy of the Yellow Heaven Demonic Palm was densely concentrated in his hand.

At that moment, Yeon-wi said,

“Lord Gok.”

“Why are you calling me?”

“You shouldn’t do that.”

Gok Gyeong frowned.

“What are you talking about? Are you telling me to spare this guy’s life?”

“He shouldn’t be spared. But you shouldn’t kill him now.”

“Why?”

If it had been someone else, he would have ignored them and already swung his hand.

Whoosh.

A faint blue light flickered in Yeon-wi’s eyes.

At the same time, Yeon-wi felt a sharp pain in one corner of his head. He momentarily lost his balance and knelt on one knee.

“If you kill this guy, we’ll die too.”

“What?”

“There’s a huge bomb inside this guy’s body. It seems to be the fire essence that the Shin Hwa cultists possess, but it’s too unstable.”

“……?!”

“You should be able to see it too.”

Kieeeeeeek!

The inner energy surged, and naturally, a ghostly cry echoed.

Gok Gyeong’s divine eyes scanned Gi Woo-shin’s body.

‘……!’

Yeon-wi’s words were correct.

The core of Gi Woo-shin’s inner energy was not in his lower dantian but in his middle dantian. That middle dantian was wrapped in an intense energy like the sun, writhing wildly.

‘This is bad.’

It was so unstable that it seemed like it would explode at any moment.

Surprisingly, that energy was replacing the human’s inherent life force, the original essence. It had taken over his entire body and was maintaining his life.

‘This guy, he said he was going to die on his own…’

And now, that powerful energy was disappearing.

Since it was replacing the original essence, his life would end when that energy disappeared.

Murderous intent filled Gok Gyeong’s eyes.

“You were deliberately stalling for time.”

Even though he could have attacked more aggressively, he had focused on defense to keep him here. Since he was going to die anyway, it was to prevent one of the strongest forces of the enemy from leaving, to make it easier for the cultists to occupy the Imperial Palace.

If he fought recklessly and was defeated, he would self-destruct anyway. That would be the cleanest way, but if Gok Gyeong didn’t die in that explosion, things would become complicated.

Gok Gyeong’s hand swung.

Thwack, thwack, thwack!

Gi Woo-shin’s limbs were cut off by the merciless hand.

Cough!

Gi Woo-shin coughed up blood. But he still didn’t die.

Gok Gyeong grabbed Gi Woo-shin’s neck and threw him out of the outer castle.

Before flying into the air, Gok Gyeong could see Gi Woo-shin’s eyes.

A resentful and regretful gaze. At the same time, a look of satisfaction from having completed his task.

“Let’s go.”

Whoosh!

Gok Gyeong supported Yeon-wi and shot towards the imperial palace.

Shortly after.