Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 921

Boom!

By slamming his power into the ground and collapsing the support, even Yeon Ho-Jeong had to momentarily falter.

Above his crumbling stance, Muk Ro swung both hands towards Yeon Ho-Jeong’s throat.

This was a killing move that ignored the power of opposing forces. Yeon Ho-Jeong had no choice but to release Muk Ro’s face and retreat.

Clang!

Immediately after retreating, he unleashed the True Fiend Wind Fist, but Muk Ro was already gone. He had retreated instantly with his godlike footwork.

Caution settled on Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face.

The opponent was falling for his provocations far too easily. Considering the crude insults he usually hurled at his enemies, these were hardly even provocations.

It wasn’t due to the opponent’s nature. Rather, the opponent’s nature was closer to calm and insidious.

Only now could Yeon Ho-Jeong be certain.

‘It’s a complete clash of opposites.’

The Yellow Dragon Divine King Art was the opposite of Muk Ro’s demonic art.

He didn’t know about other demonic arts, but against Muk Ro, no matter what technique he used, he could tear it apart with the power of the Yellow Dragon Divine King Art. [A powerful martial art focused on righteous energy].

Of course, if the difference in their levels was significant, even that would be useless. But even so, some level of response would be possible, and considering the difference in their martial arts now, the advantage in a head-on fight was on his side.

‘The two martial arts are so perfectly opposed that even my voice affects him.’

The reason Muk Ro had such difficulty controlling his emotions was also because of this martial art.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s voice was not just a simple vocalization. His entire body was filled with Yellow Dragon energy, so even the sounds he made carried that energy.

That Yellow Dragon energy was giving Muk Ro tremendous stimulation. Moreover, for Muk Ro, who had ascended to the Limitless [A high level of martial arts mastery] and was filled with demonic energy from head to toe, Yeon Ho-Jeong, imbued with Yellow Dragon energy, was like a deadly poison.

‘It’s dangerous.’

That’s why Yeon Ho-Jeong was even more cautious.

He created more distance between himself and Muk Ro.

‘The moment you seize the advantage, the moment you think you’ve won, is the most dangerous. I don’t know why, but the Yellow Dragon is the opposite of that guy’s demonic art. But I have to fight as if it’s not. Otherwise, the fight could be reversed in an instant.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s spirit and mind, honed through countless real battles, were like an iron wall.

The moment he saw an advantage, he tightened his mind even more. To avoid being blindsided by the opponent, he had to calm his excitement.

‘That guy…’

Muk Ro, who had retreated, keenly sensed Yeon Ho-Jeong’s change.

He wasn’t rushing in, excited. Instead, he took a couple of steps back and glared at him, his eyes filled with caution.

Muk Ro felt a chill.

‘How can a young kid be like that?’

Not even a seasoned veteran could do that. Considering the way he had been acting, he should have been charging in with a demonic roar, but instead, he was carefully analyzing the battle, wary of a counterattack.

There wouldn’t be a martial artist like that in the Blood Fiend Cult, or even in the Divine Flower Cult or the Evil Sound Cult. A cautious person lacks decisiveness, and an aggressive one can’t have patience. That’s how fights are.

That kid was cautious, decisive, had the experience to show patience when needed, and could become more aggressive than anyone when he needed to charge in.

Muk Ro thought of the word ‘complete’.

At least in the realm of fighting, life-or-death battles, and combat, that young kid’s mind and body were close to complete.

Muk Ro, who had been staring at Yeon Ho-Jeong, slightly relaxed his stance.

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes flashed.

Muk Ro said in a calm voice.

“Shall we talk for a moment?”

“In the middle of a fight?”

“Yes. In the middle of a fight.”

“What nonsense. You want to fight with words?”

Muk Ro was furious, but he did his best to control his emotions.

“Didn’t you attack with your tongue while throwing punches?”

That was true.

Yeon Ho-Jeong tilted his head.

“Do I have any reason to listen to you?”

Even as he spoke, Yeon Ho-Jeong was probing for an opening in Muk Ro’s defenses. He was ready to strike the moment an opening appeared.

But there were no more openings. Muk Ro, who had gathered all his power without surrounding himself with that bizarre pressure, had no blind spots.

He could have just shut up and thrown a punch, but he couldn’t recklessly attack without knowing what the opponent was thinking.

Muk Ro said.

“My footwork is faster.”

“That’s a lamentable thing.”

“If you don’t want to talk, I’ll give up fighting you. Instead, I’ll go after those Central Plains experts you care so much about.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s eyes flashed.

It was a tactic that only someone with faster speed than their opponent could use. Yeon Ho-Jeong had used it occasionally, so he knew how dangerous Muk Ro’s statement was.

‘It won’t work perfectly, though.’

Yeon Ho-Jeong relaxed his stance.

Muk Ro nodded.

“Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me. We’re here to kill each other anyway.”

“That’s true.”

“I don’t have time. Make it quick.”

“Do you know about the Blood God?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong frowned.

“Isn’t that what you crazy cultists call the evil god you worship?”

Muk Ro had to take a deep breath to stop himself from throwing a punch.

“It refers to the god we worship and the legendary demon god who ruled the Three Dukes.”

“So what?”

Muk Ro, who had been staring at Yeon Ho-Jeong, asked in a somewhat blunt tone.

“Do you know the Madman of Four Colors?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s expression instantly became strange.

Four Colors, and Madman.

It was coming from the mouth of a Blood Fiend Cult demon, no less.

If that was the case, there could only be one target. Muk Ro was bringing up the past that he had been trying so hard to suppress.

“The Four Directional Martial Emperor.”

“Yes, I forgot that you mainlanders call him the Four Directional Martial Emperor.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong feigned ignorance and asked.

“What about the Four Directional Martial Emperor?”

Muk Ro closed his mouth for a moment and silently observed Yeon Ho-Jeong’s expression.

Yeon Ho-Jeong openly frowned.

“Spit it out, you bastard.”

“This guy… !”

Muk Ro took another deep breath.

This time, it was truly dangerous. All the demonic energy of the Formless Demonic Illusion Art was about to burst out of his body.

Muk Ro, who had once again controlled himself, said in the calmest voice he could muster.

“Three hundred years ago, we launched a massive offensive to conquer the mainland.”

“I know.”

“I heard that the mainland’s allied forces were strong at that time. But they weren’t at a level we couldn’t handle. That’s what’s written in our records.”

“And?”

“But a single being changed the course of the war.”

“Is that the Four Directional Martial Emperor?”

“That’s right.”

Muk Ro’s eyes deepened.

“The details about him aren’t very clear. We can only assume it’s because it’s a painful history. We can’t know the situation from three hundred years ago.”

“…”

“However, it’s said that his martial arts were compared to four colors and that he used martial arts that had reached perfection in combat, including offense, defense, retreat, and counterattacks.”

Master.

Yeon Ho-Jeong almost muttered that to himself.

He had to try to control his emotions so that Muk Ro wouldn’t notice. Hearing about his master’s past from the enemy’s mouth gave him an unexpected sense of longing.

“And about a hundred years ago, while gathering information for another invasion of the mainland, I heard that they collected a lot of rumors about the Madman of Four Colors. Of course, I don’t know the details about him.”

“…”

“It’s said that the Madman of Four Colors went into seclusion somewhere on the mainland after ending the war three hundred years ago.”

“Was the story you wanted to tell a biography of the hero who ended the war three hundred years ago?”

“That’s right.”

“Why are you bringing up someone who was famous in the past? It’s a waste of time.”

“The past?”

Muk Ro’s lips curled up.

“Yes. He’s a person of the past. But we can’t be sure that he died at some point in the past.”

Yeon Ho-Jeong’s face frowned even more.

But his mind was subtly unraveling.

“What are you talking about?”

“The Madman of Four Colors, the nemesis you call the Four Directional Martial Emperor, stole one of our cult’s sacred relics.”

“… !”

“As long as he has that relic, his chances of survival are not zero.”

His heart was pounding.

It was fortunate that he had filled himself with Yellow Dragon energy so that he could attack at any moment. Otherwise, Muk Ro would have noticed his heightened heart rate.

Yeon Ho-Jeong nodded.

“Is the story over?”

“There’s still more. I found out later that the Madman of Four Colors, who went into seclusion on the mainland, was called the Yellow Dragon Emperor by you insects.”

Muk Ro’s eyes blazed.

“Your martial arts are the opposite of my demonic arts. My demonic art is one of the ten great guardian demonic arts of the Blood Fiend Cult, and it’s one of the few demonic arts that has maintained its original form from the time when it was called the Blood Cult.”

“…”

“And such a top-tier demonic art is helpless against your martial arts.”

“So you just wanted to ramble on, not have a conversation.”

“If your martial arts were Buddhist or Taoist divine arts, I wouldn’t have thought this far. Of course, your martial arts are righteous, but they don’t seem to have the power to break demonic energy.”

Whoooom!

Muk Ro raised his demonic energy.

“I’ll ask you directly. Your martial arts… no, are you a descendant of the Madman of Four Colors?”

Yeon Ho-Jeong chuckled.

“Can we start now?”

Muk Ro couldn’t read the truth from Yeon Ho-Jeong’s reaction.

It was as if his eyes were shrouded in a hazy fog. Judging by his eyes, attitude, and voice, he seemed to have no interest in the Blood Cult, let alone the Four Directional Martial Emperor.

Was it a sophisticated deception? He wondered, but then he thought, why would he bother deceiving him in this situation?

‘But no matter how I look at it…’

He had never heard that the Madman of Four Colors’ martial arts were the opposite of the Blood Cult’s martial arts.

Rather, the demonic art of the Blood God, who had met a complete death at the time, was the absolute demonic art that controlled all demons, and all demons could not stand before the power of the Blood God.

So at first, he suspected that Yeon Ho-Jeong’s martial arts were the Blood God’s martial arts. Otherwise, it was hard to understand this phenomenon.

But on closer inspection, his martial arts were clearly righteous, and they even reminded him of the title of the Madman of Four Colors, whom the mainlanders called the Yellow Dragon Emperor.

Moreover.

‘I think I heard that the martial arts of the Wall Mountain Tiger Clan are good at real combat.’

He couldn’t be sure.

The Three Sects were one and competitors, and they had a subtle relationship of checking each other while helping each other.

Naturally, each sect had a distinct character, and among them, the Blood Fiend Cult often failed to properly access information from the mainland due to internal problems.

There was no loyalty for the Divine Flower and Evil Sound Cults to deliberately inform them of that. They exchanged major information, but they thoroughly controlled minor details or information that would give the other side an excessive advantage.

‘I don’t know.’

He thought he could probe the opponent.

But it wasn’t. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed difficult to get anything out of Yeon Ho-Jeong.

‘If that guy is a disciple of the Madman of Four Colors… if his martial arts are truly those of the Madman of Four Colors.’

Muk Ro’s eyes darkened ominously.

“Alright.”

Muk Ro, who had raised his fighting spirit with a strong step, flicked his hand.

“I will give my all to understand your existence…”

Clang!

Muk Ro’s body was sent flying backward like crazy.

Yeon Ho-Jeong rapidly swung his fist.

“I don’t like anyone who talks more than me.”