Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 148 - An Invisible Fight is Scarier (3)
Chapter 148 – An Invisible Fight is Scarier (3)
===================
Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
“Munch, munch.”
“Wow, this is delicious! It’s really delicious!”
“Senior brother! Give me some more salt!”
“Hey! You there! Leave some of the wild boar leg meat!”
It was quite a spectacle.
About fifty beggars were scattered here and there, busily chewing on the freshly hunted wild boar and rabbit meat.
It seemed to be so delicious that it brought tears to their eyes. In fact, there seemed to be about ten people tearing into the meat while shedding tears and snot.
‘Whoa…’
Peng Man-ho felt himself overwhelmed by the sight.
Watching them, he realized once again that life might be worth living properly at least once.
They devoured the freshly hunted wild boar and rabbit, meat reeking of animal smell, as if it were a heavenly delicacy. It wasn’t that Peng Man-ho couldn’t eat it, but it wasn’t food to eat with such happiness.
‘Just how many days have they been starving?’
If he knew that they hadn’t skipped a single meal until now, Peng Man-ho’s eyes would have become even stranger.
Zhuge Ah-yeon scratched her head.
“How much did you do?”
Yeon Ho-jeong, who was mumbling on rabbit meat, looked at her with curious eyes.
“What?”
“Just how much did you roll those people to turn every single one of them into a starving demon?”
“As much as needed?”
“How much is that?”
“Enough to be useful.”
She shouldn’t have asked.
“So, are they useful now?”
“Tolerably.”
Zhuge Ah-yeon found it hard to imagine how much that was.
However, she knew how ruthless Yeon Ho-jeong was, and how high a place he was looking toward.
If it was enough to satisfy Yeon Ho-jeong, they must have suffered unspeakably during that time.
“I shouldn’t have asked. Hey! Don’t eat it all, give me some too.”
“Do you have no conscience? Stealing food from people who have been rolling in the mountains for three months…”
“I didn’t eat lunch! Hand it over!”
Yeon Ho-jeong smacked his lips and handed over a piece of rabbit meat. Regret overflowed from his eyes.
Zhuge Ah-yeon, who was militantly chewing the meat, looked at Peng Man-ho.
“Bear. Do you want one too?”
“…I’m fine.”
“Why? Aren’t you hungry? A guy as big as a mountain.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m so overwhelmed, but I’m not hungry at all.”
“Boring.”
Zhuge Ah-yeon, who had been tearing into the meat for a while, patted her stomach.
“Oh, I feel like I can live now.”
Yeon Ho-jeong chuckled.
“Anyway, I got the message, but why did you come with the Peng family brother?”
“Hmm? What, you didn’t hear the details?”
“He just tossed a single letter and left. He said he’d send you and Man-ho as of today.”
“I see.”
Yeon Ho-jeong, who brushed his hands as if he finished eating, turned back and shouted.
“This won’t do. I have a lot to talk about with this side, so rest well when you finish eating. Let’s say there’s no sword fighting today.”
Yun-ho looked at Yeon Ho-jeong with a shocked face.
“Don’t tell me you were planning to roll us again?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“Anyway, I said we won’t. Rest.”
Yeon Ho-jeong, who chilled the mood with a single answer, turned his head back to Zhuge Ah-yeon and Peng Man-ho.
His face was tanned and he had lost some cheek fat, but his eyes were still clear.
No, they seemed deeper and clearer than three months ago. The three months of training seemed to have refined not only the Evil-Annihilating Army but also Yeon Ho-jeong’s martial arts more solidly.
“I can roughly guess why they sent you two.”
“Of course you would, with your wits.”
“Never mind that, just briefly recite how things are running in the Alliance first.”
When Yeon Ho-jeong, Zhuge Ah-yeon, and Peng Man-ho were having a fairly deep conversation.
“Oh? Older sister.”
“Yeah?”
Perhaps because they shed blood and sweat together all this time.
Muk Bi was treated as the top senior in the Evil-Annihilating Army. At first, she shuddered, saying that being called older sister gave her goosebumps, but now she seemed quite used to it.
Dong-ho looked at Muk Bi with curious eyes.
“Aren’t you going to eat more?”
“It’s fine. This is enough.”
“I’ve felt this for a while, but older sister, you really seem to eat little.”
“If I eat too much, my movements become sluggish.”
The entire Evil-Annihilating Army flinched.
They stealthily read Muk Bi’s mood. They also knew that Muk Bi was inherently innocent and a good person, but when she took on the role of an instructor, she was a devil worse than Yeon Ho-jeong.
Muk Bi, feeling embarrassed for no reason, added.
“I mean that’s the case for me. There are differences for each person.”
“…T-that’s right, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I’m an archer. I need to move more delicately than others.”
Only then did the Evil-Annihilating Army comfortably focus on their meal again.
Yun-ho continuously coughed dryly.
“By the way, older sister.”
“Why?”
“Shouldn’t you go and listen with the Squad Leader?”
Muk Bi looked at Yeon Ho-jeong.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s expression as he listened to Zhuge Ah-yeon’s words was quite serious. It seemed he had both ears wide open for the first time in a while.
Muk Bi shook her head.
“I don’t know much about how the world works. Even if I listen, I won’t understand what it’s about.”
“Ah…”
Usually, martial artists did not easily reveal their shortcomings. Because it could become a weakness.
But Muk Bi was different. She was quite cold-hearted when evaluating herself. That was her strength, but sometimes it could also be a weakness.
Muk Bi, turning her gaze away from Yeon Ho-jeong and looking around, suddenly met eyes with a certain person.
It was Ok-cheong.
“Hmm…”
Ok-cheong scratched his head as if embarrassed. To scratch his head with a hand that had just torn greasy meat, it was a behavior unimaginable three months ago.
“Uh, Vice Leader Muk…”
“Are you eating meat?”
“Pardon?”
Muk Bi’s face was full of wonder.
“Didn’t you abstain from meat for three months? Didn’t you make your staple food out of those Bigu pills or whatever?”
At the same time, red-hot condemnations arose from here and there.
“Older sister! Don’t be fooled! That Taoist secretly caught and ate a rabbit!”
“Rabbit? No, Taoist? You caught a roe deer with me…?”
“What? He caught and ate a pheasant with me?!”
“There’s no meat that human hasn’t eaten. He’s a Taoist only in words, isn’t he just a butcher?”
Ok-cheong’s face turned red.
“We underwent training where life and death constantly went back and forth. The Squad Leader said it. Even a ghost that dies after eating has good colors.”
“Then just eat openly, why do you keep eating in secret!”
“It’s embarrassing…”
Ok-cheong, receiving boos from the group for his ridiculous excuse, opened his mouth again.
“Anyway, Vice Leader Muk.”
“Yeah?”
“Shouldn’t you still go and listen?”
“M-me too?”
“Yes.”
Ok-cheong spoke with a rather serious face, unlike himself.
“A clear system hasn’t been established yet, but Vice Leader is the second-in-command of the Evil-Annihilating Army. When the Squad Leader isn’t around, Vice Leader has to lead us.”
“Ah…?”
“It’s not my place to say, but if you’re not used to it, I think it would be good to learn from the Squad Leader even now.”
Muk Bi was flustered.
“S-should I do that?”
Ok-cheong smiled gently.
“Yes. I think so. I believe that if Vice Leader sets your mind to it, you will learn faster than anyone else. Isn’t that so?”
Ok-cheong sought Yun-ho’s agreement.
Yun-ho coughed dryly.
“I think so too.”
Just then, Yeon Ho-jeong, who had been talking for a while, raised his hand.
“Muk Bi!”
“Yes?”
“What are you doing over there? Come here. I wondered why it felt so empty, and there you are slacking off.”
“Me too?”
“Then who else would listen besides you, you punk! Come here quickly! Huh? But did you finish eating?”
“I finished it.”
“You ate like a rat again, didn’t you? There’s meat left here. Come and eat some more.”
Muk Bi awkwardly walked over to Yeon Ho-jeong.
Yun-ho chuckled.
“Her martial arts are fierce like a ghost, but why is she so innocent in things like this?”
The martial artists chuckled.
During the hellish three months of training, there was no time harder than when sparring with Muk Bi. But after the sparring, she always checked her opponent’s body.
She was a person with deep inner thoughts, despite speaking little. Muk Bi’s gentle nature captivated the entire Evil-Annihilating Army.
“But…”
“Me?”
Song Yeon-gyeong and the Emei Sect spear wielders tilted their heads.
Ok-cheong asked carefully.
“I’ve wanted to ask for a long time, but are monks allowed to eat meat?”
Pshh.
Song Yeon-gyeong and all the spear wielders took off their bamboo hats. Then, their pinned-up hair flowed down to their waists and swayed.
“We are unordained disciples of Emei?”
“…?!”
“Don’t tell me, you just found out now?”
Ok-cheong gaped his mouth like a goldfish.
Because the training was inherently arduous, he had only spoken a few times with the figures from the Emei Sect. And in front of women, he was quite naive.
“I-I just found out now?”
“Oh my god.”
Yeo-guk, patting his stomach with satisfaction, said.
“Yeon-gyeong, don’t expect anything from that man. I’ve never seen such an insensitive person in my life.”
Ok-cheong turned his head, making a crunching sound.
“You’ve already spoken informally…?!”
“We spoke informally on the third day. After getting beaten so much by Yeon-gyeong’s spear, I tried to win by age.”
“…”
“Why do you look like that?”
“…No.”
“You look disappointed?”
“No!”
“Understood.”
Having gained some leisure, the soldiers gathered in small groups and devoted themselves to joking around.
On the other hand, the atmosphere of Yeon Ho-jeong’s group was quite serious.
“So it’s already become that fierce.”
“Right.”
Zhuge Ah-yeon sighed.
“Probably by now, the Murong Clan also knows. That the Zhuge Clan and the Peng Clan have given strength to the Evil-Annihilating Army.”
“Hmm.”
Yeon Ho-jeong stroked his chin.
“It’s definitely as Clan Head Zhuge said. Right now, rather than draining their strength, it’s better to add strength to our side.”
“Actually, at first, I thought maybe we were making the board too big.”
“It’s a time when the Murim Alliance has just been established. Strong clashes at the top will inevitably be transmitted downward no matter how you hide it. It might be different later, but there’s no need to purposefully clash at a time like this.”
“Yeah, Clan Head Yeon also said the same thing.”
“My father is a bit sharp. He’s a person who thinks based on the greater cause, unlike me.”
“Are you praising your father, or are you praising yourself?”
“Both.”
“Anyway, they’re pretending not to, but the atmosphere is gradually sharpening. Especially, the leader of the Demon-Sweeping Squad is increasingly showing his presence.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes sparkled.
“Is that so?”
“Clan Head Murong confidently presented him, so I thought he wouldn’t be ordinary, but he seems to be a much more amazing person than that.”
Yeon Ho-jeong didn’t ask about that part in detail.
He trusted Murong Yu. Right now, whatever news came about him, it should be seen as a ‘process’. He could hear any notable details separately from Ga Deuk-sang.
“And the Tang Clan.”
Zhuge Ah-yeon blatantly frowned.
“I wondered why they were so quiet, but it seems they were weighing both sides in the middle. My father was also contacted.”
“So how did it go?”
“It hasn’t surfaced yet… but I think there will likely be some sort of relationship with the Murong Clan.”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s gaze turned cold.
‘Tang Kwan.’
A man who was the Vice Leader of the Murim Alliance, who had deliberately planted a Cow Hair Needle into his chest when he would have died even if left alone.
The one who devised the plan was Murong Jun, but the one who executed it was Tang Kwan. To Yeon Ho-jeong, they were both people he wouldn’t be satisfied even if he beat them to death.
“What about the guy who got beaten by me at the gathering?”
“Tang Yang-seon? That guy didn’t come. Instead, he brought his eldest daughter.”
“Eldest daughter?”
“Dark Heaven Divine Maiden. Tang Yang-seon’s older sister.”
“…?”
“…Don’t tell me you don’t know her?”
“Cough.”
“Hey!”
Zhuge Ah-yeon wildly swung her fists into the air. It seemed she wanted to grab Yeon Ho-jeong’s collar and shake him if she could.
“Please, at least keep famous people in your head! Who in the world doesn’t know the Dark Heaven Divine Maiden!”
“Her.”
Yeon Ho-jeong pointed at Muk Bi.
“She doesn’t know either.”
Muk Bi said, seemingly embarrassed.
“I only lived in the mountains.”
“Anyway, she doesn’t know.”
Zhuge Ah-yeon took a deep breath. She couldn’t show an ugly side in front of a person she had only exchanged brief greetings with and had zero intimacy with.
“I’m sorry. I got a little excited, right?”
“N-no, it’s fine.”
“You suffer a lot. Doesn’t your stomach turn upside down when you travel with this damn bastard?”
“…Sometimes.”
Yeon Ho-jeong clattered his teeth making a snap sound.
“Stop saying useless things, so is the Dark Heaven Divine Maiden an amazing person?”
“She’s one of the Three Phoenixes. Martial arts are one thing, but she’s said to have been born with tremendous talent in both poisons and hidden weapons. The lethality of her martial arts alone would compete for the top spot among her peers.”
“Martial arts aren’t important. I want to ask about her character.”
Zhuge Ah-yeon shook her head.
“I don’t know much about that. However, I heard that the Clan Head of Tang cherishes her even more than his eldest son.”
Yeon Ho-jeong frowned.
‘Cherishes…’
In the past, during his days as the Dark Emperor, he had spoken with Tang Kwan a few times.
Tang Kwan was a human who perfectly blended the Tang family’s unique viciousness and selfish nature. He had his own sense of loyalty, but he would use any means and methods for his goal.
Such a human trusted his daughter more than his eldest son who would succeed the family?
“Just in case, I should ask the Successor of the Beggars to look into it.”
Yeon Ho-jeong nodded.
“Anyway, you’ve worked hard to get here.”
“What hard work.”
“You’ll suffer quite a bit from now on, are you ready to die?”
“You always have to speak so bloodthirstily.”
Zhuge Ah-yeon struck her own forearm.
“I’m the craziest bitch of Mount Yungjung.”
“You look like it.”
Yeon Ho-jeong looked at Peng Man-ho.
Peng Man-ho folded his arm with a relaxed movement. His bulging biceps looked as sturdy as a rock.
“Add the crazy bastard of Hebei.”
“Got it.”
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled.
“I sincerely welcome you to the Evil-Annihilating Army.”
Zhuge Ah-yeon stretched out her fist.
“Please take care of us from now on.”
Yeon Ho-jeong clenched his fist and bumped hers.
“Me as well.”
“By the way, are we starting the Black Path cleanup from now on?”
“We have to.”
“Where are we going first?”
Whoosh.
In an instant, the air in the clearing sank coldly.
All the soldiers who were gathered in groups and chatting looked this way with cold eyes. Despite pretending not to, they were all listening to the conversation.
At that sight, Zhuge Ah-yeon tasted the feeling of her chest turning cold.
The soldiers’ eyes, their presence, were as bloodthirsty as wolves. To the point where one wouldn’t dare think of them as disciples of the Nine Great Sects.
The owner of a gaze as fierce as all their eyes combined spoke.
“Mountain warfare, and then street warfare in that order.”
“…?”
“We strike the Green Forest first.”