Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 1 - Prologue
Chapter 1 – Prologue
===================
Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
“Is he finally dead…?”
Even a Jiangshi died if its head was blown off. Much more so for a person.
Thump!
The Wind and Thunder Axe, which had slipped from his blood-soaked hands, fell to the ground. The axe, which he usually swung as lightly as a whip, felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Yeon Ho-jeong looked down at his hands.
His hands, tightly wrapped in iron chains, were completely crushed. It was a wonder how he had managed to grip and swing an axe the size of a human torso with such hands.
Clang!
The broken iron chains fell away.
“I knew this would happen.”
In his bitterness, he even forgot the pain. With these hands, it seemed he wouldn’t be able to hold a pair of chopsticks, let alone an axe.
Still, he had traded them for the head of the leader of the Evil Lust Cult, the most vicious of the Three Teachings, so wasn’t that enough? Of course, both he and that bastard were now in a position where they couldn’t even lift a spoonful of rice.
“Is that fellow dead?”
Yeon Ho-jeong turned his head.
He saw an old man leaning against a small rock. It was Murong Jun, the leader of the Murim Alliance and the head of the Orthodox factions of the time.
“Can’t you see his head is gone?”
“I can’t see it.”
Yeon Ho-jeong frowned. Looking closely, Murong Jun’s eyes were very clouded. He had gone blind due to excessive consumption of internal energy and severe internal injuries.
Walking over to Murong Jun, he flopped down.
“It’s all over.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
Yes, he had worked hard.
To crush the Evil Lust Cult, the Orthodox and Unorthodox paths had joined hands. The conduct of the Evil Lust Cult was so atrocious that it had even dispelled the deep-seated hatred and distrust between the two groups, who had been enemies for hundreds of years.
That atrocity, and the unprecedented relationship of cooperation, would end today.
And so would his own life.
“Are you alright?”
“…Well, more or less.”
“Indeed, you are a giant who was called the first Grandmaster of the Unorthodox Path; you should be at least that much.”
At least that much…
Yeon Ho-jeong did not say that the Evil Lust Cult leader’s final blow had severed his heart meridian.
Though he was somehow clinging to life with a measly amount of internal energy, he knew he would die soon.
“What a surprise. Why are you praising me for once?”
“I am merely stating the facts. If it weren’t for you, the Unorthodox Alliance could have been half-destroyed ten years ago.”
“If that had happened, you guys would have been utterly crushed before today came.”
“That is true. They say it’s like the Old Man’s Horse, but I never imagined I would see the day I’d benefit from you all.”
Yeon Ho-jeong chuckled.
After a moment of silence, Murong Jun spoke.
“Why did you make such a choice?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You aren’t originally from the Unorthodox Path, are you? If you had come to our side, you would have gained fame as a great expert under heaven. Why did you cross over to the Unorthodox Path and become its leader?”
“Why are you bringing that up now?”
“I want to resolve my curiosity before I die.”
Murong Jun’s voice was somehow empty.
Staring blankly at him, Yeon Ho-jeong sighed.
“How much longer can you hold on?”
“I won’t last even half a quarter-hour.”
Damn it.
Normally, he would have been able to see through another person’s physical condition at once. But his heart meridian was severed, his True Qi was depleted, and even his sensory perception had dulled.
‘This old man is finished too.’
This was somehow bitter.
“Any last words?”
“The life I have lived is my testament.”
“Just like a Murim Alliance Leader.”
“So, what is your answer?”
“It just happened that way.”
Of course, there was a reason. But he didn’t want to ramble about his past in front of a dying man.
Murong Jun smiled.
The smile of a blind man made the viewer feel an unknown poignancy.
“Just like you.”
“I’ll see you off on your final journey.”
“Thank you.”
It seemed people really changed when it was time to die. Both he and this old man.
“And.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“…”
“How trivial…”
Stab.
Strength entered Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes.
“Gueeegh!”
Yeon Ho-jeong vomited blood. A foul stench rose from the blood he coughed up.
He looked down at his solar plexus. There, a fine needle, barely visible to the naked eye, was embedded.
‘Cow-Hair Needle?!’
Lifting his trembling head, Yeon Ho-jeong saw the blood-stained face of an old man. The face of the old man, who was gasping for breath, looked particularly dark.
Bloodlust rose in Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes.
“Ta-Tang Kwan…!”
The head of the Sichuan Tang Clan and a heavyweight who was the Vice-Leader of the Murim Alliance.
Yeon Ho-jeong had clearly seen Tang Kwan’s chest pierced by the Evil Lust Cult leader’s Yin Desolation Finger. Even if it had missed his heart, his heart meridian should have been ruptured by the force of the finger wind, so how was he still alive?
No, why on earth did he attack me?
“I won’t ask you to understand.”
Yeon Ho-jeong glared at Murong Jun.
Murong Jun spoke in a bitter voice.
“If I die, who will be there to stop you? The current Orthodox Murim… cannot stop the Dark Emperor Castle.”
“Cough!”
“I will apologize in the afterlife. Let’s go together.”
Damn it, I would have died even if you had just left me alone.
The heart meridian he had managed to keep connected finally snapped. Due to the Tang Clan’s ultimate poison, Gut-Wrenching Powder, his internal energy evaporated, and his internal organs began to melt. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t even scream.
You son of a bitch, even if you use poison, you use something this cruel?
Thud!
Yeon Ho-jeong fell to his knees.
At the same time, Tang Kwan collapsed. After completing his final mission and releasing his tension, he was the first to die.
“Why…”
The words came out involuntarily.
Guilt appeared on Murong Jun’s face.
“I’m truly sorry.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes gradually turned cloudy.
‘Why is the end always so shitty?’
There was a second-worst, but it became the worst; and when it was about to be the best, he met the second-best moment.
It was always like that. His fate, which seemed lucky yet was astoundingly bad, was creating this mess until the very end.
Despite learning legendary martial arts, he never became the number one under heaven, and just when he thought he had succeeded in life, he was the leader of the Unorthodox Path.
It was a tiring life, being responsible for a whole lot of things without even becoming the best.
Still… he had lived hard.
‘Alliance Leader. You’d better apologize properly in the afterlife.’
* * *
“Investigate thoroughly every time, loyalty to the Wu family, knowing the thousand-year-old wisdom, praying to all the gods…”
The voice echoing in a constant tone was clear and pure.
‘Hmm?’
Beyond the voice that calmed his mind, a heavy scent of incense was smelled.
‘What? Did I come to a temple?’
But it didn’t sound like a Buddhist chant.
“Please continue to look over us so that the glory of our clan may last for a thousand years.”
Along with the clear voice, movement was detected in the surroundings.
Yeon Ho-jeong opened his eyes.
‘Huh?’
To his front, back, left, and right, all the people who were kneeling bowed down.
Yeon Ho-jeong blinked his eyes.
‘What is this situation?’
But why?
This place was somehow familiar. The people’s clothing and that elegant yet simple altar seemed like something he had seen before.
At that moment, someone tapped him from behind. Yeon Ho-jeong turned around without thinking.
His mouth fell wide open.
“Eh?”
He saw a boy who had only lifted his head while bowing. And he saw that boy’s face turning pale.
The boy gestured urgently. It was a gesture telling him to bow quickly.
However, Yeon Ho-jeong couldn’t do that.
“Ji-pyeong?!”
In an instant, the solemn atmosphere sank.
The air cooled rapidly. However, Yeon Ho-jeong was not in the right mind to feel the atmosphere here.
This boy before his eyes.
This boy, with a witty face and eyes like starlight, was his younger brother. His brother, who had ended his life twenty-six years ago along with the clan that had suffered total destruction, had appeared in the flesh.
‘Is it a dream? An illusion?’
That couldn’t be. He was not a person who had lived easily enough to confuse reality with something like a dream or an illusion.
Even if it wasn’t reality.
Although their relationship had been ruined, the family he had wanted to see even in his dreams had appeared. Yeon Ho-jeong felt an intense emotion surging from deep within his heart.
“Py-Pyeong-ah!”
Yeon Ho-jeong hugged the boy tightly.
Panic appeared on the boy, Yeon Ji-pyeong’s face. He wondered if this man had gone crazy.
The boy whispered small and fast.
“Br-Brother! Don’t do this! You’ll get in trouble!”
“You rascal!”
This warmth and the subtly trembling reaction.
It was definitely his brother. Yeon Ho-jeong’s vision turned blurry.
“Brother! Brother! Ah, really, why are you being like this…”
It was then.
“Ho-jeong.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s body stiffened.
The boy’s face and voice were just as he remembered. And so was this voice he heard now.
Releasing Yeon Ji-pyeong, Yeon Ho-jeong slowly turned his body.
A middle-aged man, who had already stood before the altar, was glaring at him with terrifying eyes.
“What do you think you are doing?”
It was neither a harsh rebuke nor a question. A weight that was hard to bear was simply placed on a plain voice.
It was a voice he had feared and disliked so much when he was young. It was the family member he didn’t even want to encounter because he hated hearing that voice.
“Father?”
The middle-aged man, Yeon Wi’s eyes narrowed.
The sight of his son, standing blankly and walking over with heavy footsteps, was too different from usual. His eyes were filled with emptiness and disbelief, surprise and emotion.
It was certainly an impressive moment. Because his eldest son had never made eye contact with him since he was a child. He was a fellow who couldn’t even straighten his shoulders once under the crushed oppression.
“Fa-Father!”
Yeon Ho-jeong ran toward Yeon Wi. He looked like he would hug him at any moment.
Yeon Wi’s hand moved.
Grabbing Yeon Ho-jeong’s wrist in one breath, he applied pressure just like that.
Thud!
‘Ugh!’
Yeon Ho-jeong fell to his knees. It was because the energy flowing through his wrist drained the strength from his legs.
“To cause a disturbance during the ritual, are you truly in your right mind?”
This voice that made his spine tingle also sounded friendly now.
Yeon Ho-jeong lifted his head.
A streak of bewilderment appeared on Yeon Wi’s face as he looked down at his son. Because Yeon Ho-jeong’s face, as he looked at him, was full of sorrow.
For some reason, the eldest son was a bit strange today.
“I will ask about the crime of disturbing the ritual after it is finished. Go to my office and wait.”
It was the same cold tone as usual.
But the answer that came back was different from usual.
“Yes!”
Isn’t that answer too spirited?
Yeon Wi, who was unusually flustered, forced himself to turn around, and Yeon Ho-jeong stood up and looked around.
Everyone participating in the ritual was looking at him. The eyes of the twenty or so people all contained confusion.
The face of Yeon Ho-jeong, who was looking around at them with a smile, suddenly stiffened.
‘Wait.’
He was so moved that he only now realized this was a strange thing.
He looked down at his chest.
There was no Cow-Hair Needle.
‘Did I not die?’
That wasn’t all.
‘No. Beyond not dying…’
Surprise appeared on Yeon Ho-jeong’s face as he scanned the surroundings once more.
‘This is my past, isn’t it?’
He checked his hands and felt his body. He brushed his hair and examined his clothes.
That was right. This was his body, yet it was not his body. His body, tempered by countless battles, was full of scars, and wasn’t it full of calluses all over his hands?
The slender frame and clean hands were definitely the body he had when he was a child.
“I can’t believe it. Is this really possible…”
“What are you muttering about!”
Yeon Wi finally got angry. Yeon Ho-jeong bowed his head as if embarrassed and left his place.
After leaving his place, he looked around once more.
“…It really is my home!”
One of the Seven Great Clans, called the most prestigious families in the Murim.
A family of steel that had only a fifty-year history, yet its presence was no less than that of the other Six Great Clans.
Yeon Ho-jeong, the eldest young master of the Green Mountain Yeon Clan, had returned.