Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 166 - The Essence of the Secret Struggle (6)
Chapter 166 – The Essence of the Secret Struggle (6)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Huuuuu.
The exhaled smoke was tinged with a faint green color. It was a color that gave off a mysterious feeling rather than a bizarre one.
Of course, since it was smoke that went into and came out of a person’s lungs, there was no way it could be good for the body.
Tang Kwan lightly tapped the long-stemmed tobacco pipe.
The fluttering ashes went up high into the sky following the wind.
“Clan Head.”
Tang Kwan silently turned his gaze to the side.
There stood a man who looked to be in his early forties.
“Are you okay?”
“What do you mean.”
“How could I even dare to guess your realm, Clan Head, but wouldn’t the Red Crown Crane Poison be somewhat excessive.”
Tang Kwan shook his head.
“The achievement of my Poison Arts is at a standstill. I have to take this level of measure for my body to become tense.”
“…Still, I think the Red Crown Crane Poison is excessive. How about using it after cultivating toxicity with a weaker poison?”
The Tang Clan Head was the master and emperor of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
A person who could make this level of remark to the emperor was truly not common. Even more so if he belonged to the Tang Clan.
Tang Kwan shook his head again.
“I know my body well.”
The man, Hall Master of the Medicine King Hall Tang Yeong-sin, let out a low sigh.
Tang Kwan’s eyes sharpened.
“Do you think I won’t even be able to endure this much?”
“If it is you, Clan Head, you will definitely endure it. However, I said it just in case, so please do not be too angry.”
“Hmph.”
Tang Kwan formed a cool smile.
“A period of stagnation means a limit. I am feeling it. If I surpass this limit and my Poison Arts rises, I will be able to reach father’s realm five years faster than expected.”
Tang Yeong-sin’s face subtly stiffened.
‘Still towards the Grand Clan Head…’
Tang Kwan was a good monarch.
Of course, he wasn’t a merciful monarch or one who embraced people. In the first place, wishing for such a monarch as a Tang Clan member was a luxury.
Tang Kwan was strong. His talent was outstanding, his business skills were good, and his Jianghu experience was rich, so he rarely let his guard down.
He had no mercy for his enemies, and if a Tang Clan member suffered even a little damage, he was also equipped with the straightforwardness of knowing how to smash the opponent regardless of the reason.
The typical Tang Clan member, a monarch who properly inherited the bloodline of the Tang clan, was exactly Tang Kwan. So Tang Yeong-sin served Tang Kwan with all his heart.
However, even such Tang Kwan had a flaw.
‘It would have been nice if you had resolved your relationship with the Grand Clan Head well.’
Tang Kwan had a narrow-minded and self-righteous side.
The problem was that this personality applied even to his blood relatives. He didn’t act like that towards his children at least, but his relationship with his father, the Grand Clan Head Tang Hyeong, was not good.
The Dark King, Tang Hyeong.
One of the Saintly Heaven Thirteen Seats, the best masters of Murim, and an Absolute Master evaluated as the most dangerous master in the current generation’s Jianghu.
‘Is it unavoidable.’
The Grand Clan Head also had a strong personality comparable to the Clan Head.
But perhaps age couldn’t be fooled, unlike his endlessly developing martial arts, his personality had become quite gentle.
So the conflict between father and son intensified even more. The father clicked his tongue at the son’s narrow-mindedness, and the son couldn’t understand the father’s self-indulgent personality.
What if the relationship between the two people was good?
‘If so, the Clan Head’s current achievements would be more outstanding than anyone among the heads of the Nine Great Sects and One Gang, and the Six Great Clans.’
The Grand Clan Head did not pass down all of his martial arts to his son, the Clan Head.
That wasn’t all. He didn’t teach the successor Tang Yang-seon either, saying his character was lacking.
The only person the Grand Clan Head poured his affection into and taught was only one person, Tang Sang-ah.
‘What a pity.’
It was a pity but it couldn’t be helped. Tang Yeong-sin’s master was Tang Kwan, not Tang Hyeong. And he never had any dissatisfaction with that even once.
“How much is left until noon?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. About half a shichen is left.”
Tang Kwan put down his pipe on the table.
“A guest will be arriving soon. Let him in.”
Doubt dwelled on Tang Yeong-sin’s face.
“When you say a guest…”
“There is such a guy.”
Lethargy could be glimpsed on Tang Kwan’s face.
Looking at his expression, he didn’t seem like an important guest. Tang Yeong-sin bowed his head.
“I will wait outside.”
“Do so.”
Tang Yeong-sin left the room.
As soon as the door closed, Tang Kwan let out a sigh.
‘Annoying.’
How many months had it already been since he came to the Murim Alliance.
There were many various things during that time, but to Tang Kwan, it was full of only tiring things. If it wasn’t to form a power base and imprint the Tang Clan’s presence, he would have sent a proxy early on.
‘I should leave soon.’
It was enough now.
He became a High Envoy of the Murim Alliance, and firmly grasped his power base. Besides, the matter of his daughter that he had dragged on for months was resolved starting yesterday.
He felt relieved just now. Since Murong Jun would take care of the remaining matters, he thought it would be fine to go to Sichuan around next month.
‘…’
Tang Kwan, who was looking at the clear sky out the window, suddenly recalled Tang Sang-ah.
Tang Kwan’s eyes sank deeply.
‘There is no place for you to stand in the Tang Clan. It seems to be an okay nest in its own way, so try to find happiness there.’
Tang Kwan cherished Tang Sang-ah.
Actually, he cherished Tang Sang-ah much more than Tang Yang-seon. Talent was talent, but unlike a Tang Clan person, she had a charm that made the people around her happy.
It wasn’t because she was his child, but she was a truly lovely kid.
Until Tang Sang-ah passed fifteen, Tang Kwan thought that unless it was the Number One prodigy under heaven, she would never end up with anyone.
But when his father, the Grand Clan Head Tang Hyeong, started to teach Tang Sang-ah.
Right from that time, everything changed.
Puseuseuseu.
Powder flew from beneath the hand he had placed on the table. The toxic qi that flowed out unconsciously had ground the surface of the table.
Tang Kwan’s eyes grew cold.
“Do you know? That you, father, are the main culprit who ruined the main family.”
A person he wanted to resemble when he was young, and a person who made him feel pride in having the surname Tang when he grew up. And a person whose face he didn’t even want to see now.
The Number One Master of the Tang Clan that the world feared, the Dark King Tang Hyeong, was such a person to Tang Kwan.
“It will be soon. I can defeat you in the near future. It means the time you have left to sit on the position of the Grand King of the Tang Clan is also not much.”
His father was poison. The most terrible and dangerous poison among poisons.
Tang Kwan didn’t doubt that chasing out such a father from the Tang Clan was the path for the sake of the Tang Clan.
Suddenly, his gaze headed to the pipe rolling on the table.
A faint green light flashed in his pupils.
‘When I return to the family, I should change it to the Formless Ultimate Poison.’
After falling into his own thoughts like that for a long while.
Huk.
Tang Kwan’s eyes, which had been full of lethargy, shone sharply.
‘…?’
Someone was coming.
There was an unusual qi wave felt from outside the window. He wasn’t comparable to himself yet, but he was an owner of a powerful aura that couldn’t easily be found even in the Murim Alliance of the world.
‘Could this guy be?’
Tang Kwan frowned.
It was a much more refined aura than he had thought. He heard that he broke through the Wall of the Martial Arts’ End just a few days ago, but he had already controlled the qi wave, which would normally be stretching out in all directions, to this extent.
‘He’s not ordinary.’
He was the guy that Murong Jun called a monster.
Murong Jun was a treacherous hero and a fierce hero. The world was contained in his two eyes.
If such a person said so, it meant he was a guy that he also absolutely shouldn’t look down on.
A moment later.
“Clan Head. The guest…”
“Tell him to come in.”
“Yes.”
Kkii-ik.
The door opened and one young man revealed his figure.
Tang Kwan’s eyes shone.
The figure of the young man wearing a light green long robe over white martial arts clothes was quite handsome.
He looked like a scholar rather than a martial artist. The atmosphere exuded from his appearance was like that.
However.
‘He’s a beast.’
As soon as Tang Kwan saw the young man, he could read the temperament of a tyrant lurking inside him.
He was truly a beast among wild beasts. He was hiding a ferocious nature that seemed like he would bite off someone’s neck in an instant if things went wrong.
Subtle interest arose in Tang Kwan’s eyes.
He was a guy somewhat similar to himself yet different. The species was different, but being a wild beast was the same. To Tang Kwan, the young man, Yeon Ho-jeong’s first impression was like that.
On the other hand, how was Tang Kwan reflected in Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes?
‘I finally see him.’
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes looked rough and dangerous like a cold wind mixed with pieces of broken blades.
‘Still the same.’
The Ten Thousand Poisons Emperor, Tang Kwan.
In the past, the Murim Alliance Leader Murong Jun was called the Sword God and revered as the Number One Person of the White Path.
And right under him, Tang Kwan, who took on the role of Vice Alliance Leader of the Murim Alliance, drove the world into fear being called by the title of the Ten Thousand Poisons Emperor.
The White Path Murim Alliance led by the Sword God Murong Jun and the Ten Thousand Poisons Emperor Tang Kwan truly enjoyed its greatest golden age. They stood at the peak through a bloody power struggle, but after standing at the peak, they were the giants who led the White Path Murim with outstanding ruling power.
And in places where it was hard for Murong Jun to step up, places where he shouldn’t step up, Tang Kwan was always there.
A person who wasn’t the Number One Person Under Heaven, but received the evaluation of being the scariest and most venomous in the world.
Furthermore, the one who brought Yeon Ho-jeong’s death one step forward.
Thump thump.
He suppressed his soaring killing intent, but the killing intent that eventually leaked out stimulated the Vermilion Bird Qi.
His heart rate went up, and the Vermilion Bird Qi soared on its own.
Hwareureureuk.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s two eyes were dyed red.
His two eyes plastered with Fire Qi and killing intent were revealing a terrifying ferocious nature. It was a different grudge from when he met the martial artists of prestigious families.
‘…?’
Tang Kwan’s eyes changed suddenly.
‘Look at this guy?’
Yeon Ho-jeong looking down at him while smiling, the boiling killing intent in his eyes was not ordinary.
How amazing was it?
Chii-i-ik.
Tang Kwan’s hand eventually pierced through the table. The toxic qi he emitted without realizing had ground the table into the shape of a palm.
‘…’
The corners of Yeon Ho-jeong’s mouth went up.
Tang Kwan’s expression changed once again.
‘This guy…’
Tseutseutseutseu.
The Vermilion Bird Qi called the White Tiger Qi, and the White Tiger Qi pulled the Black Tortoise Qi.
As the heavy Black Tortoise Qi stimulated even the Azure Dragon, soon the divine energies of the Four Gods all activated, adding an enormous sense of weight to Yeon Ho-jeong’s aura.
Kwajik! Kwajijik!
As the fierce qi waves of the two people collided, the floor split wide open.
If they had made up their minds and emitted qi waves, it wouldn’t have ended at this level. The table would have been split, chairs would have flown away, and the entire wooden floor would have been finely crushed.
Pressure beyond imagination created by the qi waves of Super Peak Masters.
It was an atmosphere overflowing with killing intent where it wouldn’t be strange even if they clashed just like this momentum. Setting aside the strength or weakness of their internal energy, the venomous personalities of the two people were heating up the air a layer more.
How much time passed like that.
When Tang Kwan’s finger wriggled without him realizing.
“It is our first time meeting.”
“…?”
Tang Kwan hesitated.
Tseutseutseutseu.
The Four Divine Energies subsided from Yeon Ho-jeong’s body.
Starting with the Vermilion Bird Qi, all the energies he had put to sleep exploded, but now was not the time to fight Tang Kwan.
Yeon Ho-jeong gave a disciplined fist salute.
“The eldest son of the Green Mountain Yeon Clan, Yeon Ho-jeong, greets the master of the Sichuan Tang Clan.”
Tang Kwan frowned.
He didn’t know where the atmosphere that seemed like he would use his hands with the momentum to kill right away went. Yeon Ho-jeong’s figure of killing his momentum and doing a fist salute looked elegant like a cloudless sky.
Tang Kwan, who was staring blankly at Yeon Ho-jeong, also slowly killed his momentum.
Seureureureu.
Before he knew it, Tang Kwan’s expression became wet with his unique lethargy.
“Yeon Ho-jeong?”
“That is so.”
Tang Kwan’s mouth wriggled.
He was the guy who properly scolded his foolish son. It was clearly his son’s fault, but he had no intention of forgiving this guy.
“To reveal killing intent at the first meeting… And in front of none other than me? You must be crazy to die.”
It was a remark that was arrogant beyond compare.
Should it indeed be called the Clan Head of the Tang Clan. He didn’t care at all whether the opponent was the Evil-Annihilating Army Commander or whatever. If he just didn’t like it, he would just smash it.
A ferocious and venomous temperament. An Imugi (Lesser Dragon) that didn’t care about the means and methods for a goal.
And in such character, Yeon Ho-jeong was not behind Tang Kwan.
“Your guest reception is harsh.”
“…What?”
“I came to get a cup of alcohol to drink. Since I also came after eating a hearty meal, please give me a bottle of a strong one.”
“…”
“Ah, if possible, with Wuliangye.”