Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 115 - The Price of Insult (3)
Chapter 115 – The Price of Insult (3)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The next day.
“Heuk!”
Murong Yeon-hwa, who woke up from her seat with a groan, panted.
“…What is this?”
At that time, the door opened.
“Euk! Young Lady! Have you regained consciousness!”
“Red Wind Squad Leader?”
The person who opened the door and entered was Cheon Il-sang, the leader of the Red Wind Squad who escorted Murong Yeon-hwa.
“Is your body okay?”
“Ah… y-yes, I’m fine.”
Murong Yeon-hwa looked around.
‘Where is this?’
Instantly, a strong pain surged from her thigh.
“Euk!”
“Young Lady?”
“…No. I’m fine.”
The sharp pain vividly revived the memories of last night.
‘Yeon Ho-jeong!’
Murong Yeon-hwa ground her teeth without realizing it.
She asked without regard for the circumstances.
“Where is that bastard?”
“Yes? W-Who are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Yeon Ho-jeong!”
In an instant, Murong Yeon-hwa could see it. The troubled look cast over Cheon Il-sang’s expression.
“Yeon Ho-jeong… You mean the eldest son of the Yeon Clan.”
“Did something happen?”
“T-That is…”
Cheon Il-sang stuttered and spoke.
“I heard you had an argument with the eldest son of the Yeon Clan, so…”
“And?”
“The situation is a bit strange.”
Murong Yeon-hwa glared.
“It’s frustrating. Hurry up and get to the main point.”
“By any chance, did Young Lady use a killing move on the person of the Yeon Clan?”
“…What did you say?!”
Cheon Il-sang let out a sigh.
“After taking Young Lady to the infirmary upon hearing that you had an argument with the eldest son of the Yeon Clan, I went to personally demand an explanation.”
“A-And then?”
“The rumors are already widespread in the world. On the top floor of the Lake Fresh Tower, not only did you insult the person of the Yeon Clan along with the descendants of the merchant alliance, but you even used a killing move…”
Bang!
The wall was dented by Murong Yeon-hwa’s fist.
“What kind of nonsense is that!”
Cheon Il-sang tightly closed his eyes.
“I too thought it was nonsense, but the rumor is spreading fast as if it has already become an established fact. Furthermore, the descendants of the merchant alliance also…”
Murong Yeon-hwa felt an unknown anxiety rushing in like fog.
“They too acknowledged the fact and left for the trade alliance headquarters first.”
Murong Yeon-hwa’s face turned red.
‘This bastard!’
She was struck in the back of the head.
Now that she looked at it, it seemed he had knocked her out on purpose. After making her unable to respond to the rumors, it seemed he had even won over the idiots of the merchant alliance with a few words.
‘These damn bastards.’
Yeon Ho-jeong was Yeon Ho-jeong, but she felt more extreme anger towards the descendants of the merchant alliance.
‘How dare they do this to me!’
She was the one who contacted them in order to seize the Zhejiang trade business in the future. If not for that, they were existences she wouldn’t have even considered as dirt under her toenails.
Those bastards struck her in the back of the head. It was like pouring oil on her wounded pride and even setting it on fire.
“Let’s go.”
“L-Young Lady! Meeting Yeon Ho-jeong now is a bit…”
“Not Yeon Ho-jeong, I have to meet my uncle.”
Murong Yeon-hwa bit her lip.
“It’s too late even if I try to catch up now anyway. I have to go to my uncle and completely take control of the bastards on that side. Revealing the truth comes next.”
* * *
“Are you awake?”
“Ugh…”
Muk Bi staggered continuously.
Yeon Ho-jeong clicked his tongue.
“Pouring it in like that yesterday. It seems the first drink of your life was madly captivating, huh?”
“Don’t talk to me. My head is ringing.”
“What a funny guy. Then you just have to drive out the alcohol energy with internal energy.”
“…Yes?”
“Drive out the alcohol energy, you punk. What are you going to do keeping your internal energy around?”
Muk Bi asked with a bewildered face.
“Does that work?”
“If you can drive out impure qi in your body, you can’t drive out alcohol energy?”
Wooooong.
As soon as the words fell, a faint haze rose from Muk Bi’s body. A strong smell of alcohol was a bonus.
“Oh? It works.”
“Would I have made you do something that doesn’t work.”
Yeon Ho-jeong looked at Muk Bi as if it was fascinating.
“By the way, your method of managing internal energy is unique. Is it because it’s focused on Moving Arts?”
In the past, during the days as the head of the Five Great Divine Generals, Muk Bi was proficient in all of Sitting Arts, Moving Arts, and Standing Arts. Because Yeon Ho-jeong had passed on part of his martial arts to her.
But not now. Muk Bi had never once polished her internal energy through Sitting Arts. She was always moving, and she nourished her body with the correspondingly active internal energy management.
“The Living Bow Steel String Method…”
Muk Bi’s eyes widened.
“You know the Living Bow Steel String Method?”
“Huh? Ah, roughly.”
Of course he knows. The Living Bow Steel String Method was a divine art that gave Muk Bi the nickname Divine Archer and was extremely outstanding in encompassing projectile weapons in general.
However…
‘It needed supplementation.’
The Living Bow Steel String Method is a divine art that emits power peerless under heaven.
However, the deeper you learn it, the more problems it causes in your body. Of course, to reach that level, you would have to reach grand accomplishment.
“How do you know the Living Bow Steel String Method?”
“Ah, that? That’s, well…”
“By any chance, did older brother tell you?”
“…Something like that.”
“I see.”
Muk Bi’s face darkened somewhat. Even though quite some time had passed, she was mourning while recalling Baek Jung-cheon.
Yeon Ho-jeong smacked his lips.
“Hey.”
“What.”
“I plan to take a good rest for today, but do you have any intention of learning a martial art from me?”
“Learning martial arts while resting? Then it’s not resting, is it?”
“You have to train while resting to improve your skills. Do you have absolutely no intention of becoming stronger?”
“Of course, that’s not it.”
Muk Bi shook her head.
“For me, the martial arts I’m learning are already more than enough. I have no intention of learning more of other martial arts.”
“What if you don’t have a bow?”
“Yes?”
“Let’s say you encountered an enemy in a state without a bow. Are you going to pick up chopsticks and throw them like yesterday? Are you just going to kick blindly with those legs tempered by movement techniques?”
“Hmm…”
“Being able to fully show off your skills anytime, at any moment makes you a true martial artist. The Jianghu is rough. Because you don’t know where or what will happen, your preparedness must be thorough.”
“I-Is that so?”
If she hadn’t experienced something like yesterday, she would have tried to decline to the end.
But it was different now.
What if those people yesterday were possessors of martial arts difficult for Muk Bi to handle?
If they made up their minds and harbored ill intentions, even Muk Bi would have had no choice but to suffer. Of course, because her movement techniques were outstanding, escape might have been possible, but she couldn’t keep running away forever.
“The beginning of all martial arts is bare hands. You also need to learn Fist Combat.”
“…Okay.”
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled widely.
“Good, let’s swing our arms and legs excitedly here in the back garden today.”
“A-Understood.”
“And I will also teach you a stable internal energy cultivation method. It’s a guy that can supplement the weakness of the Living Bow Steel String Method, and it’s absolutely excellent for generating internal energy.”
“The weakness of the Living Bow Steel String Method?”
“There is such a thing. I heard that from Baek Jung-cheon too, so don’t look at me with suspicious eyes.”
“…Is that so.”
Muk Bi nodded her head.
“I will learn it for now.”
It meant she would try learning it, and discard it if she judged it to be useless.
Yeon Ho-jeong liked that attitude of Muk Bi.
A person who knows their own vessel generally doesn’t make wrong choices.
Before breaking the vessel, you have to think about filling your own vessel first. Looking at it from that aspect, although Muk Bi might be somewhat dark to the ways of the world, she knew how to see the essence.
Whether as a martial artist or as a person.
“Let’s start right after eating.”
“Yes.”
The two people who had appropriately filled their stomachs entered the forest next to the back garden.
“It’s quite spacious. It should be fine to do it here.”
Yeon Ho-jeong, who set down the Crazy Dragon Axe, lightly warmed up his body.
“Shall we see your skills first?”
“Skills?”
It was then.
Paaang!
Yeon Ho-jeong’s body was shot forward to the front of Muk Bi in an instant.
Muk Bi was startled. There hadn’t been any presence, but he had already approached right in front of her nose.
There wasn’t even time to scream. She quickly retreated backward.
Thud!
Muk Bi’s figure retreated to the rear at a fast speed.
‘I knew it.’
At that time, red fire qi shone from Yeon Ho-jeong’s body.
Flash!
Muk Bi glared.
‘That footwork!’
The moment she felt the air heating up, Yeon Ho-jeong approached from Muk Bi’s rear side.
It was truly a dizzying speed. To the point that even Muk Bi, a master of movement techniques, lost him from her sight for a moment.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s fist aimed for Muk Bi’s flank.
Thump!
Muk Bi’s body spun like a top and deflected the one punch.
Her bodily movement was definitely good. Even though she hadn’t learned Tai Chi-style martial arts like Four Ounces Deflects A Thousand Pounds or Pear Flower Grafting Tree, she deflected the attack.
It was an admirable move, but it didn’t work on Yeon Ho-jeong.
Putting his weight into the flowing fist, he spun his body just like that.
The subsequent attack was a leg technique striking down like an axe. It was an Axe Kick.
Muk Bi’s expression changed suddenly.
The power of the leg technique striking down vertically was strong and fierce. It was neither a blow worth deflecting nor power worth blocking.
‘Eek!’
Thud!
Muk Bi urgently turned her body.
Bang!
Yeon Ho-jeong’s heel struck the ground just like that.
However, the attack did not end. Buwol means a large axe and a small axe; since she dodged the initial large axe blow, the subsequent small axe remained.
The leg whose axis had changed, the right leg, moved as fast as lightning.
Smack!
“Keuk!”
Muk Bi staggered and retreated.
‘It hurts!’
She barely blocked it by crossing both arms.
It wasn’t a leg technique striking with strength, but a leg technique whipping quickly. Her vision was dizzy with extreme pain as if the blocking arms had become vital points.
“Are you only going to dodge?”
Papapang!
Yeon Ho-jeong moved in a zigzag pattern and approached.
There was no time to struggle in pain. Muk Bi threw her body to the rear and tried to grasp Yeon Ho-jeong’s movements.
Whoosh!
It’s foolishness to let the enemy grasp oneself. Yeon Ho-jeong, who was moving chaotically, moved in a straight line in an instant.
‘Heuk!’
It was a straight-line footwork of central breakthrough holding a brilliantly flamboyant momentum like fire.
‘Not this time.’
Thump!
Muk Bi stood her body straight in preparation for Yeon Ho-jeong’s attack. Because just dodging alone could not block Yeon Ho-jeong’s fast attacks.
Yeon Ho-jeong narrowed the distance down to one zhang.
When the completely tense Muk Bi took a stance.
Baaang!
The entire forest shook at the immense stomp.
Whooooosh!
Pure white wind was contained in the flame-like energy wave. The hot and bloody energy wave instantly transformed into a majestic and combative energy wave.
Muk Bi’s eyes widened.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s fist was thrust out containing the power of Mount Tai.
Kwaaang!
“Keok!”
It was a fist technique that transcended imagination. Hit by the mighty fist force, Muk Bi flew away fluttering, crashed into a tree, and fell.
“Cough, cough!”
She had no internal injuries, but her vision was spinning and her breathing became rough.
Muk Bi’s eyes trembled as if there was an earthquake.
‘He’s incredible!’
When she retreated, he took the path of retreat as if waiting and attacked, and when she softly deflected it, he attacked with fast attacks that were difficult to even respond to.
That wasn’t all.
When she gave elasticity and held out with the intention of blocking the stormy continuous strikes, this time he blew her away with an unblockable strong attack.
‘He was reading me from beginning to end.’
According to the opponent’s changes, this side changes as well.
It was a sensory real-combat close-quarters combat skill that could not be seen from an archer whose virtue is prudence. He didn’t unfold any particularly amazing technique, yet she couldn’t even endure a few exchanges and was defeated.
“Do you know your weakness?”
Muk Bi looked up at Yeon Ho-jeong with trembling eyes.
With the sunlight falling through the bushes at his back, Yeon Ho-jeong’s figure looked as big as a giant.
“To demonstrate prudence in close combat, you must basically possess the skill to receive all of the opponent’s attacks. But you don’t have that.”
“…!”
“Beast-like sensitive and sensory physical arts. If you can acquire that, you will gain the power to annihilate enemies with monstrous continuous shooting.”
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled.
“Consider yourself lucky. You can’t learn this kind of thing anywhere.”