Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 875

876. The Fist King Alliance Leader (1)

“…….”

Feeling a strange sense of loneliness, Yeon-wi, who was sitting alone on the platform, pouring a drink, rose to his feet at the sudden surge of energy he felt.

A moment later.

Yeon-wi, who had brought out another empty cup and a rather antique-looking bottle of liquor from his residence, looked at the main gate of the Pagun Pavilion.

“Come in.”

Creak.

The door opened, and Tang Gwan entered.

Yeon-wi smiled.

“You’ve arrived.”

“What, have you now mastered something like clairvoyance?”

“Hmm?”

“You told me to come in just as I was about to knock on the door. You’ve become a ghost.”

Yeon-wi burst into laughter.

“Stop talking nonsense and come up. Let’s have a drink.”

Tang Gwan grumbled.

“The snacks look too meager… Huh?”

Tang Gwan’s eyes widened at the sight of the new bottle of liquor.

“It’s not white liquor?”

“I was wondering what to drink if we had another drink later, and it just so happened that a good item came into the village, so I bought it.”

Yeon-wi flicked the bottle with his finger.

“It’s Jian Nan Chun [a type of Chinese liquor].”

Tang Gwan let out a hollow laugh.

“Are you going to treat me, a Sichuan native, to Jian Nan Chun now?”

Jian Nan Chun was a liquor from Sichuan. There was no need to drink the liquor he had drunk so much of in his hometown even in the Martial Alliance.

Yeon-wi smiled.

“Isn’t it said that the taste and aroma of liquor vary greatly depending on how it’s made? It’s said to change depending on the time it’s made, so it will be different from what the Clan Leader drank.”

“I’ve drunk hundreds of casks of Jian Nan Chun with slightly different tastes and aromas.”

“You’ll be drinking one more cask on top of those hundreds.”

Tang Gwan laughed and climbed onto the platform.

“You’ve become quite thick-skinned since I last saw you.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

The two shared a drink.

Yeon-wi asked.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’ve already drunk it, so what’s the point of asking if I’m alright? But this is a bit strange. It’s Jian Nan Chun, but the aroma is much stronger. I haven’t drunk this kind of Jian Nan Chun many times.”

“I’m not talking about the liquor.”

Tang Gwan shrugged his shoulders. Only then did he understand the meaning of Yeon-wi’s words.

“If I wasn’t alright, I wouldn’t have been able to come to the Alliance in the first place.”

“You would have, but still.”

“And…”

Tang Gwan chuckled.

“It’s running very well even without me and my brother. Because Father is standing firm.”

A strange light flickered across Yeon-wi’s face.

Yeon-wi had heard the news that Tang Gwan had reconciled with his father, the Dark King Tang Hyeong.

However, he thought it would be difficult for Tang Gwan, with his personality, to ask the Dark King to act as the Clan Leader’s proxy.

Although he had some rough edges, he was a very responsible person. Entrusting the family to his already retired father was something that Yeon-wi knew Tang Gwan would never do.

Yeon-wi did not try to hide his thoughts in front of Tang Gwan.

“I didn’t know that the Clan Leader was so close with the Dark King.”

Tang Gwan shook his head.

“It’s still awkward. It’s extremely awkward, really.”

Although their relationship had improved, the period of accumulated love and resentment was decades long. One reconciliation would not make them an ideal father and son. Even if their hearts were affectionate towards each other, it was difficult to show it outwardly.

Fortunately, Tang Gwan was constantly trying to correct himself, and Tang Hyeong did not want to live a tiring life in his old age, so he treated Tang Gwan very gently.

That was why their relationship had recovered to this extent. If that had not been the case, they would still be awkward, and it would be difficult for their conversation to last even half a moment.

“The family has fully recovered. Furthermore, my father hoped that I would not repeat the mistakes he had made. But I ended up repeating them.”

“Hmm.”

“I moved differently than before. If my father hadn’t been watching over me, I wouldn’t have dared to come to the Alliance. That’s how well my father knew that the atmosphere of the main family had to change.”

Tang Hyeong, who had long realized the need for change, must have pondered thousands, tens of thousands of times how the Tang family should change after he confined himself.

He unhesitatingly told his son the ideal methods he had come up with over such a long period. However, since the Clan Leader was Tang Gwan, he did not show a coercive attitude, asking if it would be okay to go that way.

He respected his son, the Clan Leader, Tang Gwan. Just as Tang Gwan had changed, Tang Hyeong had also changed greatly in that regard.

Thanks to that, the Tang family quickly stabilized, and Tang Gwan also recovered his relationship to the point where he could entrust the family to Tang Hyeong and come. Tang Hyeong would probably be leading the family in the direction his son wanted, not his own.

“I can send my brother to the family.”

“That’s true, but.”

Yeon-wi coughed dryly.

“Either way, Ho-jeong will be the leader of this mission, so the picture might not be very good.”

Tang Gwan was the head of the Tang clan and a distant senior to Yeon Ho-jeong.

In other words, he would be temporarily going under a junior to carry out operations. It was something that anyone would feel their pride hurt by.

“What’s wrong with the picture?”

“That is…”

“Ah, it might be a bit strange.”

Tang Gwan stroked his chin.

“Having the Vice-Chief of the Black Dragon Unit as the leader… It’s true that the White Path side might feel their pride hurt.”

“…?!”

“But well, isn’t he a disciple of the head of the Black Path Alliance? He’s the de facto second-in-command of the Black Path martial world, so rank or age wouldn’t matter much.”

Surprise flickered across Yeon-wi’s face.

Tang Gwan asked, as if amused.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“You had that kind of calculation too.”

“From your perspective, he’s your son, but from my perspective, he’s like a nephew and also the second-in-command of the Black Path martial world.”

“That’s right. Indeed, what the Clan Leader says is correct.”

“Rather, if there’s anything to be offended by, it’s helping the Divine Demonic Forest itself.”

Tang Gwan frowned openly.

“Was it Cheon Hyo-rak? He was certainly an unusual guy. However, with that Heavenly Punishment or whatever, he seemed talented, but it looked like he had difficulty properly manifesting his martial arts.”

“It must be Heavenly Punishment. His internal energy throughout his body is abundant, but it’s difficult to manifest his martial arts… I wondered if it was due to a sorcery or a psychological factor, but there were no such signs.”

“Either way, I don’t like that guy at all.”

“Is it because he’s from the Demonic Path martial world?”

“That’s also a frustrating part, but.”

Tang Hyeong’s eyes sank deeply.

“He seemed to be hiding a lot.”

“It can’t be helped. If I or the Clan Leader were to go to the Divine Demonic Forest right now, we would have thoroughly controlled information about the family and the Martial Alliance.”

“It’s not that kind of problem.”

He seemed to have received a feeling that was difficult to explain in words. A frustrating agony could be seen in Tang Gwan’s appearance as he crossed his arms and tilted his head.

“Well, anyway, I don’t trust that guy. And if I noticed that something was strange, Ho-jeong probably noticed it too.”

Yeon-wi smiled.

“Why has your title changed?”

“Hmm?”

“You always called him a brat.”

“Are you trying to joke with me? No matter what, I’m not such a reckless person that I would call him a brat in front of his father, leaving out his name. Unless that brat is really in front of me.”

“Hahaha.”

Yeon-wi burst into laughter, amused by Tang Gwan’s words.

Tang Gwan also laughed and filled his cup. Looking at that, it was clear that Tang Gwan had changed a lot.

After that, the two spent time talking about various things. It was a drinking session between friends that they had had in a long time.

How much time had passed?

“Can I ask you something?”

“Ask me anything.”

Tang Gwan, holding his cup, asked in a casual tone.

“Why aren’t you ascending?”

“……”

Yeon-wi, holding his cup, flinched.

Tang Gwan, who had emptied his cup cleanly, burped as if to show off. It was quite an undignified act, but he seemed embarrassed by the thought that he had asked a pointless question himself.

But the words had already been spoken, and Tang Gwan asked without hesitation.

“In my opinion, it seems like you’re right on the verge of the Supreme Realm.”

Yeon-wi did not deny those words. Rather, he went one step further.

“Can you see that?”

“It’s not that I see it, it’s just that I feel it.”

“You’re amazing. The Clan Leader’s martial prowess is no different from that of Clan Leader Moyong.”

Tang Gwan openly expressed his displeasure.

“Don’t compare me to that damned human. I was better then, and I’m better now.”

“Haha.”

“Anyway, why are you doing that?”

It was a question that his son, Yeon Ho-jeong, his strategist, Jeagal Mun-ho, and even Gong Gong Dae-sa had asked Yeon-wi.

Yeon-wi, who had always smiled and avoided answering, could no longer hide his true feelings in front of the first real friend he had made in the Martial Alliance.

“Because I think it’s excessive.”

“Excessive? What is?”

“……”

“Surely you’re not going to say something ridiculous like it’s excessive for two masters in one family to break through to the Supreme Realm?”

“That ridiculous thing is correct.”

Tang Gwan covered his eyes with his hand. He was so dumbfounded that the palm of his hand that hit his eye socket made a thud!

“Good heavens, is that true?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Then what about Shaolin? The Fist God Mu Heo Dae-sa, who is closest to being the best in the world, and now the first Martial Alliance Leader, Gong Gong Dae-sa, have also reached the Supreme Realm. Is Shaolin going too far?”

“No.”

“Then why?!”

Yeon-wi smiled bitterly.

“Ho-jeong will not become the Young Clan Leader.”

“……!”

“I have to hand over the next Clan Leader position to Ji-pyeong. I said I would do it myself.”

“……You must have talked enough between parents and children, so I won’t ask any more questions. But why is that an obstacle to the Clan Leader’s desire to reach the Supreme Realm?”

Desire.

Tang Gwan called it desire. And Yeon-wi thought that the word desire was the word that accurately grasped his state.

“The Yeon family is the Yeon family.”

“I refuse to answer Zen riddles.”

“Neither in my generation nor in Ji-pyeong’s generation will we increase its size. Well, I guess it can’t be helped. I’ve seen how things are, so I’m not going to be a child who suddenly burns with ambition and tries to make the main family the best in the world.”

“That’s right.”

“When Ji-pyeong becomes the Clan Leader, pressure will come from various directions.”

“It’s natural since the generation has changed. The Nine Great Sects, and even our Tang family, were like that. So shouldn’t you reach the Supreme Realm even more? So that no one can look down on you.”

Yeon-wi sighed.

“The main family’s reputation is already excessively high.”

“Is it to the point of expressing it as excessive?”

“Pressure from the surroundings has already begun.”

“Are you going to succumb to that level of pressure?”

“It is said that excess is as bad as deficiency. The main family’s power has already reached its limit.”

Yeon-wi shook his head.

“Unless I want to see the pinnacle of the sword after retirement, I have no intention of reaching the Supreme Realm right now.”

“You’re frustrating. I don’t understand at all.”

“Haha, I have no intention of seeking the understanding of others. I just…”

Yeon-wi smacked his lips.

“I just think that Ho-jeong is enough.”

“……”

“Ho-jeong went from being a hero of the martial world to a traitor of the White Path. The world says it’s not, but many people are treating Ho-jeong as a traitor.”

“……”

“It’s not a good way to suppress public opinion with more overwhelming power.”

Tang Gwan sighed.

“Listen, Yeon…”

It was then.

“……!!”

The eyes of the two widened.

“This is…?”

“You’ve arrived.”

Yeon-wi’s eyes shone.

“It’s the Ghost Lord of Mad Chaos.”