Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 79

“This is bad! Lord! Please, quickly see to the young master…!”

“Wait.”

“Yes?!”

“Wait.”

“B, but Lord! The young master is in danger!”

“Where do you see that?”

The Chang’eung Unit, hidden in the forest, could observe the entire battle unfolding in front of them.

Shinmo’s eyes gleamed.

“The young master is more than capable of handling them.”

“I, is he really that strong?”

“He is strong. But it’s a bit different from that.”

Shinmo wasn’t entirely sure either. How the young master was dealing with the enemies. The distance was considerable, and the number of enemies was overwhelming.

But one thing was certain.

‘He knows the enemy’s weaknesses.’

It wasn’t just a casual understanding.

It was a response that was almost a complete counter. With every step and gesture, the enemies’ martial arts were crumbling like straw.

When they tried to grab him, he would retreat out of their attack range and then charge at another enemy. To an outsider, it would seem as if they had rehearsed their moves beforehand.

Shinmo was bewildered.

‘He’s seeing through the enemy’s martial arts. How is that even possible?’

Could it be that the young master has grasped all the principles of the Myeong family’s martial arts? How?

It was then.

Chirp! Chirp!

From beyond the bushes, the sound of birds could be heard. It was a bird song imbued with very faint inner energy.

The eyes of the Chang’eung Unit members flashed.

“Get ready.”

Woo-oong.

The power of the dragon robe began to stir within Shinmo’s body.

“When the signal comes, we push them back immediately.”

* * *

Thwack!

Flesh and blood splattered.

‘I see it.’

Crack! Slash!

With a single axe strike, the horse’s head and the sword master’s torso were cleaved apart and sent flying.

‘I see everything.’

The White Tiger’s aura soared, and the Black Tortoise’s aura spread wide.

The martial arts of the Four Divine Beasts grew more intense with time. Yet, it wasn’t merely rough. It was rough and ferocious, yet delicate and flexible. Where the Divine Turtle and Qilin [a mythical hooved Chinese creature] energies raged, Yeon Ho-Jeong’s martial arts were blossoming more fully than ever before.

Thwack! Thwack!

It was a divine axe technique.

Spear techniques, sword techniques, staff techniques, and chaotic strikes were combined and reborn into a deadly axe technique.

He swung and struck. He crushed and shattered.

It was a martial art that maximized the destructive power of a heavy weapon.

And that wasn’t all.

Ziiiiing!

The swirling swords and the spreading fist and palm energies caused the White Tiger and Black Tortoise auras to rise erratically, reducing their power.

No, it wasn’t just a reduction; it was absorption. The destructive power of the strikes was neutralized by the axe and fists, and the neutralized energy was then absorbed and consumed by the White Tiger and Black Tortoise auras.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s gaze grew increasingly intense.

‘Got it!’

He didn’t tire.

The enemies’ energy, their strikes, their shockwaves were only fueling Yeon Ho-Jeong’s inner energy even more.

The axe, imbued with the strengthened energy, became an invincible divine weapon that severed necks and shattered torsos.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s movements became noticeably faster.

The power of the axe exploded. The strikes of the Yeon Family’s Thirteen Fists and the Yeonhwan Flying Swallow Palm transformed into sledgehammers, claiming the lives of the sword masters.

The leader of the fifty sword masters, Myeong Jeok-Ryang, was in shock.

“Th, that monster!”

Yeon Ho-Jeong, emitting a terrifying killing intent and sweeping through the sword masters.

He was like a storm. Where the martial arts of the White Tiger of the West passed, a spray of blood erupted, and where the martial arts of the Black Tortoise of the North rose, the sound of bones breaking echoed.

He was invincible. To the Myeong family warriors who had mastered the Four Divine Arts of the Four Symbols [referring to the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Vermilion Bird], Yeon Ho-Jeong was nothing short of a disaster.

Thwack!

With a gruesome sound, the heads of two warhorses flew high into the air. At the same time, the torsos of three sword masters were torn to shreds.

Flash!

In that instant, Myeong Jeok-Ryang felt a chill.

The enemy, who had been wielding a weapon as large as a human body, had locked onto him. The black and white divine energy in his eyes seemed as if it would pierce through his skull in an instant.

Whoosh!

The ominous feeling was spot on.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, having pushed back the sword masters with his strength, kicked off the back of a warhorse and leaped towards Myeong Jeok-Ryang.

‘Tch!’

Myeong Jeok-Ryang’s hand reached for the longsword on his back. The Phoenix energy blazed like fire.

It was then.

Clang!

With a tremendous shockwave, Yeon Ho-Jeong’s body was thrown backward.

Crack!

He regained his footing the moment he landed, but the force of the impact was too strong. Yeon Ho-Jeong’s feet created long furrows in the ground.

Whoosh!

Before Myeong Jeok-Ryang, a swordsman stood, igniting the flames of a fire god.

“You insolent fool!”

Thud!

The ground around Myeong Cheon’s feet began to crack like a spiderweb.

Swish!

The blazing flames swept through the surroundings.

‘This can’t be!’

Myeong Jeok-Ryang was in utter shock.

‘He has mastered the Phoenix Divine Art to this extent…!’

It was overwhelming. He himself had practiced the Phoenix Divine Art day and night, but the level was completely different.

The head of the Guju Myeong family, the Thunderfire Divine Sword Myeong Cheon.

A supreme master who had made a name for himself in the world with his lightning-fast and fire-like swordsmanship had finally entered the battle.

As Myeong Cheon looked around, his eyes blazed with killing intent. In that brief exchange, more than half of the sword masters had lost their lives.

“You utterly incompetent fools! I can’t stand to watch this any longer!”

Surprisingly, his anger was directed not at Yeon Ho-Jeong but at the sword masters.

“How could you have been so careless in your training that you were defeated by a mere whelp like him!”

It was an absurd accusation.

There was no way Myeong Cheon hadn’t seen what was obvious to Myeong Jeok-Ryang. Yeon Ho-Jeong’s martial arts were not only strong in themselves but also completely countering their martial arts.

In other words, he was thoroughly exploiting the weaknesses of the Four Divine Arts to defeat them. Yet, he was saying they had been careless in their training?

“You vermin! To think I tried to conquer the world by relying on you, I was a fool!”

Of course, Myeong Cheon knew that there was nothing wrong with the sword masters’ martial arts. He also knew that Yeon Ho-Jeong’s martial arts were beyond imagination and that he had thoroughly grasped the weaknesses of the Four Divine Arts.

But he couldn’t accept it.

The Myeong family was a clan founded by ancestors who, along with the Four Divine Emperors, who were called the strongest in martial arts history, had driven out the Blood Sect.

And what they had mastered now was a martial art that had marked an era during the worst chaos and golden age of the martial world. Myeong Cheon didn’t want to admit that such a martial art was being countered by a mere whelp.

Crack.

Yeon Ho-Jeong, having strongly stepped on the pushed-back earth, looked at Myeong Cheon with a smile.

“Did you finally show up?”

Myeong Cheon’s eyes flashed.

It was a strike with considerable force. Even a master swordsman of the sword master level would not have escaped internal injuries, yet he seemed completely unfazed.

A heavy voice flowed from Myeong Cheon’s mouth.

“So, you do have some skill.”

Zzzzzing!

A resilient sword hum resonated from the sword Myeong Cheon held.

It wasn’t a common sword found in the Central Plains. It was a greatsword that was a foot longer than any other longsword and twice as wide. It was closer in form to a military greatsword than a martial arts sword. The hilt was also a double-handed sword that was over a foot long.

Madness, beyond killing intent, flickered on Myeong Cheon’s face.

“I will cut off your head and throw it in front of Yeon Wi, that damned bastard. I wonder if he will maintain his composure even after seeing his son’s salted head.”

It was quite a provocation. For Yeon Ho-Jeong, who harbored extreme guilt towards his family, there was no greater provocation.

‘….’

But why? Why was his heart so calm?

Even with the true enemy who had orchestrated the destruction of his family before him, his eyes were clear.

Whoooosh.

A white wind gathered on the slowly moving axe blade.

Yeon Ho-Jeong looked up at the sky and closed his eyes.

‘Finally, I’m here.’

He had left his family and entered Hanam. Since then, he had shaken the Myeong family with several battles.

In fact, it hadn’t been that long. But for Yeon Ho-Jeong, it had felt like an eternity.

‘Father. I intend to eliminate an old grudge you don’t know about here. You may not know, but I will still take my revenge.’

Thinking of his father, Yeon Ji-Pyeong naturally came to mind.

Thinking of his younger brother’s white hand offering him a rice ball with a bright face, his eyes seemed to be dazzled.

‘Pyeong-ah.’

His hand gripping the axe tightened.

‘I will take all the tears you will shed in the future.’

The father of the past, the father of the present.

The younger brother of the past, the younger brother of the present.

The past of the two men, riddled with deep grudges, and the future of the two men, leaping forward powerfully, merged into one, and finally became Yeon Ho-Jeong’s present.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes flashed open.

Clang!

With a powerful stomp, a shockwave that shook the heavens and earth surged.

Yeon Ho-Jeong shouted.

With a dignified voice, filled with the fighting spirit of a warrior.

“Come at me, Myeong Cheon.”

It was a majestic aura that no one had ever seen before.

Myeong Cheon’s face contorted.

“…You whelp!”

Whoosh!

Myeong Cheon charged.

It was the beginning. A duel, a bloodbath, the debt of blood created by the martial world was now demanding the lives of the two men.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s axe and Myeong Cheon’s greatsword collided head-on.

Clang!

A tremendous roar shook the earth.

It was a clash of heavy weapons. It was a battle of strength against strength.

Thud!

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s body was thrown backward.

It was an unavoidable disadvantage in strength. Myeong Cheon was a supreme master, a peerless swordsman on the same level as Yeon Wi. For the current Yeon Ho-Jeong, a head-on confrontation with him was madness.

Bang! Clang!

But Yeon Ho-Jeong didn’t stop.

He quickly regained his balance and took the second step of the White Tiger Overlord Step.

‘What?!’

He thought he had rendered him incapacitated with one blow, but it wasn’t so. He was charging back with a storm-like momentum as soon as he was thrown back, with twice the power as before.

Myeong Cheon swung his sword.

Yeon Ho-Jeong also launched a fierce attack.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The two men’s weapons collided, creating a dazzling shower of sparks.

In a short moment, they collided countless times. It was a speed that was difficult to follow even with the eyes of a master. Both men were wielding heavy weapons, yet they were using martial arts as fast as a quick sword.

Light flashed in Myeong Cheon’s eyes.

“You insolent fool!”

Slash!

Blood spurted from Yeon Ho-Jeong’s chest.

It was a deep cut. A diagonal wound that ran from his left collarbone to his right abdomen.

It was when Myeong Cheon was wearing a sinister smile.

Clang!

“Kuh!”

Myeong Cheon’s body slid backward.

Even after taking an unavoidable sword strike, he immediately swung his axe. If he had been careless, his torso would have been split in two by this strike.

“This crazy bastard!”

Bang! Bang!

The White Tiger Overlord Step unfolded.

It was a stomp that drew out more power with time. Even the great Myeong Cheon was unable to hide his bewilderment at the aura of the Tiger King.

Clang! Clang!

The power of the axe, fueled by the momentum, grew stronger and stronger.

Bang! Bang!

It was another advance. Another attack.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The speed increased as much as the power. The violent force of the Tiger King Nine Wall Stance fell like lightning.

Whoosh!

And in an instant, Yeon Ho-Jeong’s movements achieved an unfathomable speed.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Myeong Cheon’s body was pushed back madly by the onslaught of martial arts.

It was the White Tiger Overlord’s Consecutive Forward Steps. As he pushed his opponent with extreme fighting spirit, the White Tiger aura was drawing out the secret techniques of the Overlord Step.

Clang!

Myeong Cheon’s body creaked. Blood flowed from the hand gripping the sword hilt.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face contorted.

The opponent’s blood stimulated his ferocity.

“Myeong Cheon…!”

Flash! Clang!

He blocked the downward axe strike, but his feet were buried in the ground up to his ankles.

Thwack!

It was an astonishing sight. Yeon Ho-Jeong’s fist finally struck Myeong Cheon’s shoulder.

Myeong Cheon staggered.

The image of an enraged beast rose above Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face.

“Don’t back down with just this! If you don’t do it properly, I’ll tear you apart and kill you!”