Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 139 - A Rabble (3)
Chapter 139 – A Rabble (3)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The following day at noon.
“Ugh, it’s cold.”
Yun-ho rubbed his shoulders with his hands.
“Jeez, if he called people, he should arrive on time. Why is he so late?”
Dong-ho criticized.
“It hasn’t even been half a quarter of an hour since we arrived, Senior Martial Brother.”
“Anyway! If he called us, shouldn’t he come out on time!”
“Hmph, when you are in front of that person, you freeze up and can’t even open your mouth properly.”
“This brat?”
“I’m just saying.”
“By the way, why did you come? You should have returned to the main mountain instead of playing around in the Alliance.”
“It’s all because of you, Senior Martial Brother.”
“What did I do?!”
“How would I know what kind of accident you’ll cause? I came to keep an eye on you.”
Yun-ho snorted.
“What are you going to do by keeping an eye on me? You just came because you wanted to get some fresh air.”
“It serves both purposes.”
“Hehehe.”
“By the way…”
Dong-ho looked around.
“There are more people than I thought.”
Nearly fifty rising stars were gathered in the rear garden of the Army-Destroying Pavilion.
Most of them were mountain people from the Nine Great Sects. And they were the losers of the spars who had challenged Yeon Ho-jeong at least twice and gotten crushed.
Young masters who had not yet taken on key roles in their sects. Even if they weren’t the absolute best rising stars produced by each sect, they were at least internal energy experts worthy of being called first-rate.
Dong-ho frowned.
“It is strange.”
“What is?”
“Most of them belong to our Mount Hua, Qingcheng, Emei, Diancang, and Kongtong. The rest… hmm, I’m not sure. They look like wandering warriors.”
“And so?”
“Isn’t it fascinating? Not a single person from the Six Great Clans came.”
Yun-ho shook his head.
“It’s not fascinating at all.”
“Why?”
“That gentleman is the eldest son of the Yeon Clan. One of the wings of the Six Great Clans. Wouldn’t it be a loss of face for members of the same Six Families to join a mobile unit where he is the captain?”
“Ah…”
“Well, there might actually be people who are close to him. But the elders of the families probably stopped them, right?”
Dong-ho looked at Yun-ho with admiring eyes.
“How do you know such things, Senior Martial Brother?”
“You brat. I am from a prestigious family after all.”
“You were from the Six Families, Senior Martial Brother?”
“…Not quite on that level, just enough to hold my head high in a small region?”
“As expected of someone who learned about the world early. Maybe because I lived on the mountain since I was young, I don’t really understand the conflicts of the secular world.”
Yun-ho smiled bitterly.
“Don’t try too hard to understand. The deeper you know, the dirtier and uglier it gets.”
“Hmmm.”
Dong-ho scratched his head.
“But, Senior Martial Brother.”
“What now?”
“I purposely didn’t ask until now…”
“Why are you hesitating so much?”
“Why on earth are you trying to join the mobile unit led by that person, Yeon Ho-jeong?”
Yun-ho smacked his lips.
“There are various reasons.”
“The captain hasn’t even arrived yet, so tell me.”
“Ahem.”
Clearing his throat with a fake cough, Yun-ho raised his index finger.
“First, there’s nothing for me to do at Mount Hua.”
“That is a frighteningly trivial reason.”
“I’ll hit you.”
“What’s the second?”
Yun-ho raised his middle finger as well.
“Second, I want to experience the Jianghu.”
“Huh? Haven’t you descended the mountain several times, Senior Martial Brother? Didn’t you even participate in the bandit subjugation battle before?”
“You brat, can you say you’ve fully experienced the Jianghu just by descending the mountain a few times? I want to see a wider world.”
“Heh, what if the captain just spins us around in one region?”
“…I haven’t thought that far ahead, but there would be nothing I could do about it then.”
“And is there another reason?”
“Third.”
Yun-ho clenched his fist.
“We can train freely.”
“Excuse me?”
“Neither you nor I have any duties at the main mountain. So to speak, we’re close to reserve forces, but we have to needlessly live according to a schedule. Sometimes we even have to stand guard at the mountain gate.”
“Well, it’s an honorable task in its own way.”
“It is honorable. However, I want to do something bigger than that. I want to grow several times more than I am now before returning.”
Yun-ho smacked his lips.
“Well, we might not learn new martial arts, but won’t we have that much more time to contemplate? I have no doubt that this mobile unit experience will be of great help to my life.”
Dong-ho’s eyes sparkled.
“That’s admirable, Senior Martial Brother.”
“What admiration? In the end, I joined because I wanted to do as I please.”
“Even so. I don’t have a grand goal like you, Senior Martial Brother.”
“I probably won’t be the only one.”
“Excuse me?”
Yun-ho looked around.
Someone standing leisurely and looking up at the clouds, someone dozing off sitting on a small rock, and even someone sitting cross-legged and focusing on something.
It was a truly diverse group of people.
“Those friends probably came with similar thoughts. Their situations will be similar too.”
The martial arts of those Yun-ho observed were sufficiently strong. They were at a level that could easily pass for first-rate in the Jianghu, and among them were people who had just entered the peak realm like himself.
It was just that the standards of the so-called prestigious orthodox sects were too high; they too were sufficiently remarkable experts. Weren’t there a majority of martial artists who couldn’t reach their level even if they trained for their entire lives?
However, those gathered here would hope for more than that. Even if they weren’t rising stars who could represent their sects, their pride would not be second to anyone.
Dong-ho sighed.
Yun-ho tilted his head.
“Why the sudden sigh?”
“I just feel frustrated.”
“You have a lot to be frustrated about, kid.”
“We’re only two years apart, Senior Martial Brother.”
“…Tch.”
Regret appeared on Dong-ho’s face.
“Both of us and them, we must all have been people who were expected to do great things in our sects.”
“Right.”
“In the end, most of us gathered here because we are mediocre.”
Yun-ho did not reply.
He too agreed with Dong-ho’s opinion. However, he felt that saying it out loud would make himself too miserable.
“That’s how the world is…”
In the end, he only spat out words that sounded like an old man’s grumbling.
“Brrr, anyway, as you said, Senior Martial Brother, it’s getting cold.”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Ah, when is the gentleman who will be our captain coming?”
It was then.
“Gasp!”
Someone drew in a breath.
“C-could that person be?”
“Little Sword Immortal Ok-cheong!”
“Shh! Hey, his seniority is higher than ours! Watch your mouth!”
They looked at Ok-cheong with burning eyes.
Ok-cheong was the sole disciple of Sword Immortal Tak Mu-ja, who had placed his name on the Saintly Heaven Thirteen Seats.
The Sword Immortal’s name was known everywhere, but especially among the Nine Great Sects that practiced Taoist and Buddhist martial arts, he stood shoulder to shoulder with the Fist God Immortal Mu-heo.
An existence praised endlessly by the Orthodox Murim. Ok-cheong was the one and only disciple of that Sword Immortal, and a genius among geniuses rumored to have been born with the talent of a Martial God.
“But why is that person, no, that distinguished individual…?”
“Could he be joining the mobile unit?”
“Hey, there’s no way. He must be busy learning from the Sword Immortal elder.”
“That’s true too.”
“…Hmm, could it be he has a grudge against Yeon Ho-jeong?”
“Whoa, looks like it.”
The whispering sounds were heard all too well.
Ok-cheong looked around with an awkward expression and soon headed for a corner. It was burdensome for him to get involved with people he didn’t know.
Anyway, Ok-cheong’s appearance heated up the atmosphere quite a bit. To them, he was a person who was hard to even strike up a conversation with, but if even the Sword Immortal’s disciple came, they felt it would save some face to be active in the mobile unit.
Looking around, Yun-ho suddenly approached Ok-cheong.
“Hello.”
“Ah, greetings.”
Yun-ho spoke with an awkward face.
“Thank you for that time.”
“When are you talking about?”
“Um… well, after the spar with Young Master Yeon…”
“Ah!”
Ok-cheong shook his head.
“Please do not mind it. It was the natural thing to do.”
“Haha, but I should still be thankful for what I’m thankful for. By the way…”
Yun-ho asked subtly.
“By any chance, are you also joining the mobile unit, Taoist Ok-cheong?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Excuse me? What do you mean you don’t know yet?”
Ok-cheong spoke with an awkward face.
“I only came after hearing the rumors. Great Hero Yeon, no, Young Master Yeon did not seek me out.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I mean I came because I heard a mobile unit was being organized with Young Master Yeon as the captain. I also heard on my way here that Young Master Yeon personally went and made offers to my fellow Taoist friends.”
“Ah…”
Yun-ho tilted his head.
“Why did that gentleman do that? With a level of martial arts like yours, Taoist Ok-cheong, it would be normal to rush over and request you.”
Ok-cheong smacked his lips.
“It might be because my martial arts are so far below standard…”
“Excuse me? Eyy, how could you say such a thing? If your martial arts are below standard, Taoist Ok-cheong, we should just go out and die.”
“No. Truly, my martial arts were nothing special.”
Yun-ho smiled softly.
“Your modesty is great.”
‘It’s not modesty.’
Ok-cheong was about to explain the past circumstances but soon gave up. It was too long of a story to explain, and it was awkward to mix words with a stranger in the first place.
How much time had passed like that?
“Hmm?”
“Someone is coming.”
Everyone’s eyes shone.
Crunch, crunch.
The sound of walking on the snow-covered ground tickled the listeners’ ears.
Soon, a woman revealed herself.
“Oh…”
“Ah, how beautiful.”
“An archer?”
The person who entered the rear garden outdoors was none other than Muk Bi.
Perhaps feeling awkward under people’s gazes, she needlessly blushed.
Yun-ho’s eyes shone.
“Isn’t that archer a friend of Young Master Yeon?”
“…”
“Taoist Ok-cheong?”
“Ye-yes? Ah, did you call me?”
“…Yes. Ah, anyway, you know her too, right, Taoist Ok-cheong? That archer.”
“I know her.”
‘Even if I know her, I know her far too well.’
Ok-cheong subconsciously stroked his thigh.
‘I got hit intensely, right here.’
Yeon Ho-jeong would occasionally make Muk Bi shoot arrows at Ok-cheong.
They were blunt arrows without arrowheads, but every time he got hit, he barely held back the terrifying scream threatening to burst out from the back of his throat. Muk Bi’s arrows were so fast that it was difficult to easily evade them with Ok-cheong’s reaction speed.
‘I’ve never had a single conversation with her, but Miss Muk’s martial arts must be far superior to mine.’
That must definitely be the case. The memory of the immense pain rising from his thigh soaked Ok-cheong in fear.
‘…Ugh, I shouldn’t imagine it.’
It was when everyone was looking at Muk Bi with eyes full of curiosity.
“Ho-oh, more gathered than I expected?”
Everyone was startled and looked at the entrance to the rear garden.
Yeon Ho-jeong was there. His appearance, with the intensely powerful Crazy Dragon Axe slung over his shoulder, looked quite cheerful.
“Let’s see… one, two, three, four… there must be roughly fifty.”
The rising stars, who had been scattered about individually, all straightened their postures.
Whatever the case, he was the commander who would lead this mobile unit. Putting age and martial arts aside, they had to show some level of courtesy.
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled and spoke.
“Have you all packed your bags?”
“…?”
‘What does this mean?’
Yun-ho asked as a representative.
“When you say have we packed our bags…?”
“Hmm? I mean literally.”
“Excuse me?”
Yeon Ho-jeong grinned.
“Haven’t you heard? We will depart the Alliance right today.”