Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 894

“Are you alright?”

“Of course.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho smiled.

“This rascal. I told you, your old man is fine on his own.”

They were inside the military headquarters, but now it was just the two of them. Jeagal Mun-Ho’s face was full of affection as he looked at his daughter.

Jeagal Ayeon shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m not as fast as you, Father, but it’s still better to have two people doing it.”

“Not as fast? You’re incredibly quick at reading.”

“Since we’re talking about it, shall we take a short break? I’ll make some tea.”

“Hahaha, yes. Let’s do that.”

A moment later, the fragrant aroma of tea filled the room.

“Hoo.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho took a sip of tea and leaned back in his chair.

Jeagal Ayeon’s face showed concern.

“Are you having a hard time, Father?”

“Is there anything in this world that isn’t hard? Everyone carries their own burdens. There’s no need to act special.”

“Still, please take it easy.”

“Haha, I understand.”

“It’s been half a month since the first leader was appointed. Many martial artists are flocking to the Martial Alliance, but surely there must be someone smart among them?”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying you should recruit more military advisors to be your hands and feet.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho chuckled.

“I’m already working on it. I’m reaching my limit now.”

“Good job.”

“Why? Do you want to take a position too?”

Jeagal Ayeon stuck out her tongue slightly.

“I’m still a military advisor for the Righteous Army, you know?”

“Haha, that’s right.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho turned his gaze out the window.

Winter had passed, and spring had arrived. But the night air was still cold.

“Where is our young master?”

“He must be in his quarters. He’s probably busy training in martial arts.”

“Hmm? All of a sudden?”

“He saw all those powerful people swarming around, didn’t he? It’s enough to be a stimulus.”

“I suppose so.”

“Besides, that fight.”

Jeagal Ayeon’s face flushed slightly.

“The duel between Ho-Jeong and the First Martial Paragon seems to have ignited a fire in him.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho burst into laughter.

“Is that kid who’s still making paper boats dreaming of a great warship?”

“Everyone had a time when they couldn’t even make a paper boat, right? The higher the mountain they aim for, the harder they’ll work.”

“Tsk, he’s not that kind of guy, but I’m afraid he might get impatient with his unnecessary competitiveness.”

“He’s already all grown up, what are you talking about? He’ll be fine.”

“Haha, that’s right. You guys are adults now too.”

He didn’t know how long it had been since he had laughed like this.

As he laughed heartily, Jeagal Mun-Ho thought. Family is the best, after all.

Whether it’s parents, siblings, a spouse, or children, there’s no need to hide anything in front of family. For Jeagal Mun-Ho, who had to hide everything, his family was his one and only sanctuary.

How long had it been?

Just as the teacup was about to be empty.

“Ayeon-ah.”

“Yes.”

“In a few years, you’ll be thirty.”

“I guess so?”

“Have you thought about marriage?”

Jeagal Ayeon’s hand, which was holding the teacup, paused.

Jeagal Mun-Ho sighed.

“I know this is a sensitive topic for you, especially after the trouble you had with the matchmaker from the Namgoong family. It’s a difficult subject for me to bring up too.”

“Yes, I know.”

“But… I just want you and Jun-i to be happy. I want you to meet good people, have a happy family, and live well.”

“……”

Jeagal Ayeon smiled. It was a somewhat empty smile.

Jeagal Mun-Ho continued.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I’ve found a family that I think is suitable for my daughter, who is more outstanding than anyone else in the world.”

“……”

“There’s a place where I’d like to send a matchmaker with all due respect.”

“Father.”

“However, if you don’t want to, I won’t send them. I know it’s common in this harsh world to marry someone you’ve never met, but I still want you to live with someone you love.”

“……”

“What do you think? Do you have any thoughts about marriage? Or… is there someone else you have in mind?”

Jeagal Mun-Ho thought that this wasn’t the right moment to say this.

At the same time, he also thought that if not now, there would be no other time to say it.

So, even though he knew it would upset his daughter, he brought it up first. Jeagal Mun-Ho was even sorry for that.

“……”

Jeagal Ayeon didn’t say anything.

Jeagal Mun-Ho’s eyes sparkled.

“Is there someone you have in mind?”

“No. There isn’t.”

“Is that so.”

Jeagal Ayeon sighed.

“To be honest… I don’t know.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho smiled.

‘I don’t know?’ That wasn’t a statement made because she truly didn’t know.

Whether it’s a man or a woman, unless they have an extremely straightforward personality, not many people would openly say they like someone in front of them.

Especially when they’re young. They tend to act like they don’t care or even exaggerate their actions in front of the person they like.

Jeagal Mun-Ho knew who the only person Jeagal Ayeon showed that kind of behavior to was.

But he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. He was guessing, no, he was certain, but his daughter’s thoughts could be different.

“Later.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho said, putting down his teacup.

“Later, when your mind is clear, tell me then. I can wait anytime.”

“……”

“But there’s no guarantee that the other person will wait. Don’t forget that.”

Jeagal Ayeon, who had been looking down at her teacup with a complicated expression, soon smiled.

“That’s fine. I’ll just live with Father.”

“No way, you rascal.”

“Why? I’m a smart and pretty daughter who will take care of you, you know?”

“I’d rather see my daughter have a happy family than have a daughter who takes care of me until I die, even if she never visits.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not lying.”

“You’d be yelling that I’m an ungrateful wretch if I didn’t visit until you die.”

“You little brat? Hey, you! That’s just a figure of speech, of course, you should visit once in a while! Is it normal for a child not to show their face to their father until he dies?”

At that moment.

There was the sound of someone’s footsteps rushing up the stairs outside the door.

“Military Advisor! Urgent news!”

The two’s eyes changed instantly.

“Come in.”

The warrior who opened the door handed over a rolled-up letter.

Jeagal Mun-Ho immediately unfolded the letter.

A moment later, his eyes shook.

“Is this true?”

“They say it’s more than 90% reliable.”

“This is… !”

Jeagal Mun-Ho’s hand, which was holding the letter, trembled.

“Contact the Martial Palace right now! I need to see the Alliance Leader.”

“Yes!”

Jeagal Ayeon asked in surprise.

“What’s going on, Father?!”

“The outer martial world has moved. Some of their forces are heading towards the Central Plains.”

Jeagal Ayeon’s eyes widened.

“S-Surely, not the Three Teachings already?!”

“No, it’s not the Three Teachings.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho’s expression hardened like stone.

“It’s the Tibetan martial world.”

“Tibet?!”

“Damn it, I don’t know what’s going on all of a sudden.”

Jeagal Mun-Ho, who had thrown on a robe, shouted.

“Ayeon, you go back to your quarters! Don’t act rashly until you receive further orders!”

* * *

Thud thud thud.

The speed of the group traveling along the mountain path in Shanxi was a little faster than before.

Even as they traveled along the rough mountain path, the horses showed no signs of fatigue. The horses pulling the carriage were raised on elixirs in the Divine Forest, and the horses the group was riding were no less magnificent.

They could run without difficulty on flat ground as well as in the mountains. It was amazing stamina.

How long had they been traveling?

Swoosh!

Tang Gwan turned his head to the left.

“Rascal!”

“Yes, I know.”

Someone was running at a terrifying speed from the forest in the distance.

It was a familiar energy. He was someone whose mastery of lightness skill was terrifyingly deep compared to his inner energy.

A moment later, a middle-aged beggar with three knots on his waist appeared.

“I greet the Tang Clan Head!”

His voice was steady even as he ran alongside the horses, which were much faster and had several times more stamina than ordinary horses.

“I have brought two letters! One is from the Martial Alliance, and the other is from the Lanzhou branch in Gansu!”

The branch leader of Shanxi had brought a letter directly from Gansu. It must be something serious.

Tang Gwan received the letters.

The beggar bowed his head.

“Then, I’ll be going.”

Whoosh!

The Beggar Clan branch leader disappeared back into the forest path.

“Take it.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong was no longer a member of the Martial Alliance. So, the branch leader handed the letter to Tang Gwan.

Tang Gwan handed the letter from the Lanzhou branch to Yeon Ho-Jeong.

The two quickly unfolded and read the letters.

“This is…?!”

Tang Gwan exclaimed.

“The Tibetan martial world is on the move!”

His voice was full of tension.

The Sichuan martial world was more accustomed to fighting against foreign forces than other regions.

Sichuan itself was made up of rugged mountains surrounding a huge basin, making it difficult for even skilled martial artists to easily cross over.

In other words, the foreign martial artists who aimed for Sichuan were all experts. The Sichuan martial artists had fought and won against such individuals.

Naturally, the Tang Clan was also well aware of the Tibetan martial world.

“What news did the Beggar Clan send?”

Rustle.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes, which had folded the letter, gleamed.

“They say a suspicious group is crossing Gansu. Most of them are wearing black, but among them, there are also strange monks wearing black rosaries around their necks and blood-red robes.”

Blood-red robes.

Tang Gwan’s eyes turned fierce.

“The Lesser Thunder Sound Temple.”

The Thunder Sound Temple, which inherited Buddhist law, had been corrupted after accepting the martial arts and sorcery of the Western Regions and the East. Those who still devoted themselves to Buddhist law belonged to the Greater Thunder Sound Temple, while those who were intoxicated by power and began to take over Tibet belonged to the Lesser Thunder Sound Temple.

The power of the Lesser Thunder Sound Temple was truly formidable. There was a saying that if there was Shaolin in the Central Plains, there was the Lesser Thunder Sound Temple in the outer regions.

However, the places where they lived were so far apart that they had not actually clashed much.

“Then this is…?”

“Yes.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s pupils turned a faint golden color.

“It’s a double infiltration, similar to a feint to the east and an attack to the west.”

“If it’s a double infiltration, could it be those guys who aren’t from the Blood Demon Sect that you mentioned before…?”

“They’re aiming for this side. They’ve sent experts to capture Young Master Cheon.”

“Those bastards… !”

“The forces attacking from the other side won’t be negligible either. They’ll need to keep the Martial Alliance’s attention. There will be a lot of them.”

“Then?”

“There will be powerful experts among the group coming towards us.”

Even though he knew they were aiming for this side, a smile appeared on Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face.

It was a cold smile.

‘So it was like this.’

The Great Young Master of the Divine Forest had drawn in the Blood Demon Sect. And he had dispatched experts to capture Cheon Hyo-Rak.

But at this point, the Tibetan martial world was moving.

The result was obvious.

‘Those Three Teachings bastards, they were controlling the Tibetan martial world as expected.’

He had guessed it, but now that it was confirmed, anger slowly began to rise.

‘It’s not the Three Teachings versus the Central Plains. It’s the total forces of the outer martial world versus the total forces of the Central Plains.’

Before his regression, when the chaos of the Evil Sound Sect broke out, he only focused on the Three Teachings. He thought that if they were defeated, the Central Plains would return to normal.

He was wrong.

From the beginning, this battle was a total war between the Central Plains and the outer regions, with their lives on the line.

Yeon Ho-Jeong shouted.

“Let’s break through faster! If there is an enemy attack, we will surely annihilate them, so everyone, prepare yourselves!”

Kwarururung!

A hazy cloud of dust rose from the ground where the group had passed.

It was as if they were watching a dust storm in the wilderness during a chaotic battle.