Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 173 - Sweeping Demons and Annihilating Evil (3)
Chapter 173 – Sweeping Demons and Annihilating Evil (3)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“Huu.”
“Are you awake now?”
“Elder brother?”
“Yes.”
Murong Yu nodded his head with a tired-looking face.
Murong Jun frowned.
“Was it very hard?”
“…Yes.”
He hesitated before eventually answering yes.
Murong Yu, who would say it wasn’t so and that it was bearable even if it was considerably hard, obediently admitted it this time. It seemed he had truly suffered greatly.
“Why on earth did the Abbott spar with you? Of course, a spar with such a master is a tremendous learning opportunity.”
Shaolin Abbott Kong-kong.
A direct disciple of the Fist God Mu-heo, one of the Saintly Heaven Thirteen Seats, and a person evaluated to possess the highest martial arts among the heads of the Nine Sects One Gang and the Six Great Clans.
There were rarely any times he had revealed his martial arts itself, but the heads of each sect tacitly agreed that the strongest person excluding the Saintly Heaven Thirteen Seats was Master Kong-kong.
It couldn’t be helped. Because even with those martial arts he had rarely revealed, he could sufficiently shake the world.
Furthermore, he was a person who directly received the teachings of the Immortal Emperor, who was compared to the absolute masters from three hundred years ago, which was the peak golden age of Murim and the strongest of the era. There was no lack in calling him the strongest head of the Orthodox Path.
Such a master gave a spar?
The value of that couldn’t even be described with the words of hundreds of millions of gold. It was certain that it would be a tremendous help in his future martial arts development.
He was just curious why, of all times, he had personally come and given a spar at this point in time.
“I do not know the exact reason.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I clearly felt goodwill, but even that felt ambiguous.”
Murong Yu’s voice was quite cautious.
No matter who he was, it was bound to be difficult to speak of Master Kong-kong. He was a figure holding such name value.
Murong Jun nodded his head.
“It is not unreasonable for you to feel that way. In fact, even I haven’t grasped Master Kong-kong’s true intentions yet.”
He was a truly orthodox martial artist of the Orthodox Path, without a single impurity in his merciful heart for chivalry and righteousness.
But it also felt like he was hiding something inside. His heart for the world was sincere, but it also seemed he was pursuing something beyond that.
Yet he always maintained a neutral political stance, so to Murong Jun, who was trying to get his hands on the supreme power, he couldn’t help but be an object that weighed on his mind.
“One thing was certain though.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m talking about martial arts. I could physically feel why Shaolin Temple is called the number one sect of the Orthodox Path.”
Murong Jun’s eyes shone.
“It must have naturally been overwhelming, but was it that amazing?”
“Yes.”
Murong Yu nodded his head.
“Shaolin’s martial arts were amazing, but the Abbott’s martial arts were also amazing.”
“What does that mean? The martial arts the Abbott uses are precisely Shaolin’s martial arts.”
“That is…”
Murong Yu smacked his lips. It was an expression where awkwardness could be felt.
“It’s a little… different.”
“Different?”
“Yes. Of course, the martial arts he uses are Shaolin’s martial arts, but.”
Murong Jun shook his head.
“It’s a sound whose meaning I don’t know.”
“I can’t express it well either. But he was really strong. It was my first time feeling so strongly that it was an insurmountable wall.”
“Heo.”
“So.”
Subtle excitement took place on Murong Yu’s face stained with fatigue.
“It seems I’ve caught a clue. One that can break through the Wall of the Martial Arts´ End.”
* * *
Peeoooong!
With an explosive sound piercing the empty air, Master Kong-kong’s figure landed on the ground.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes shone.
‘Is it indeed like that.’
Not a speck of dust was stained on Master Kong-kong’s body as he stepped on the ground with two feet.
It was like that even though he had unwound the Sovereign Tiger’s Nine Thunderclaps into a fist form and struck. He easily blocked a fist strike that would drop even a tolerable peak master into an incapacitated state in one hit.
Paaaak!
Yeon Ho-jeong stood opposite Master Kong-kong.
Master Kong-kong admired in a low voice.
“Could you have perhaps read my movements?”
“That is correct.”
“Ha! Did you know Shaolin’s martial arts?”
“Could that be possible.”
“Then how?”
Drrrrk.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who raised the Crazy Dragon Axe again.
Before he knew it, a radiance of four colors flashed in his eyes.
“If you strive to kill the strong as the weak, you naturally come to realize it.”
Kuung!
The earth shook once again.
It was a force twice as strong as the foot stomp he showed first. Receiving power from the powerful foot stomp, Yeon Ho-jeong advanced like a shooting arrow.
‘Is he coming.’
A subtle golden radiance lingered in Master Kong-kong’s pupils.
‘An honest advance. But…’
Kung! Kung! Kung!
Even though he ran refreshingly, heaven and earth vibrated every time his toe grazed the ground. It was like a tiger as giant as a mountain was running over.
‘It is mysterious.’
It was footwork.
It was footwork, but it was absolutely not an ordinary footwork.
‘As if even the footwork is like a single attack…’
The advancing momentum alone chiseled away the enemy’s fighting spirit.
This had to be seen as the martial art itself having such a characteristic, apart from Yeon Ho-jeong’s fighting spirit. The operation method of gathering Qi while advancing vigorously was so refined that it was astonishing.
Buuuuung!
The giant blade of the Crazy Dragon Axe, holding the sunlight, was swung aiming for Master Kong-kong’s collarbone.
A strike coming in diagonally. It was a momentum that would split the chest at once.
A strange excitement rose on Master Kong-kong’s face.
‘This extraordinary strength and realization.’
It looked like a simple movement, but it was an attack that couldn’t be hastily blocked or avoided. Before the movement, the Qi wave suppressing the space was completely reading the opponent’s reaction.
Master Kong-kong’s right palm struck the axe blade head-on.
Jjeoooooong!
Surprise colored Yeon Ho-jeong’s face.
It was a strike thrown out after drawing up power as much as possible with the White Tiger’s Sovereign Step. That destructive strike was bounced off by a single palm technique strike.
However, there was no panic even if the attack didn’t work. Yeon Ho-jeong, who loaded his body onto the flow of the bounced-off Crazy Dragon Axe, kicked up a High-Air Kick just like that.
Paaang!
The kick technique that struck the empty air created a shockwave like a wave.
Master Kong-kong, who tried to grab the ankle by retreating half a step to the left, had to give up his choice in an instant.
‘Oh my.’
Uuuung!
The shockwave spreading from the empty air was strongly pushing away the hand trying to snatch the ankle.
If he forcefully tried to grab it here, a counterattack would fly right back. A match between masters is determined in an instant, there was no need to forcefully execute a method that wouldn’t even work.
Hook!
This time, it was Yeon Ho-jeong’s turn to be surprised.
‘Fast!’
In the eyes of Yeon Ho-jeong, who spun in the air as his posture broke, Master Kong-kong’s fist striking in from the left blind spot was seen before he knew it.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s left palm moved urgently. Black Tortoise Qi was contained in his left hand that was swung like a flash of lightning.
Boom!
‘Keuk.’
Yeon Ho-jeong’s body flew lightly and settled on the ground.
‘I didn’t block it perfectly.’
His left wrist and elbow rang with a zing. Because although he operated the Black Tortoise Qi in an instant, he lacked the time to properly execute a defensive technique.
“It is amazing.”
Master Kong-kong was also similarly surprised.
“The strong repulsive force felt from the true Qi itself is outstanding, yet a defensive posture like an iron wall too? With one hand at that?”
Yeon Ho-jeong deeply let out his breath.
There was no time to open his mouth. Master Kong-kong, who had finished what he had to say, launched an attack again.
Papapapang!
The Vajra Fist of Shaolin pouring in.
Leaving aside the dizzyingly fast speed, the fist pressure transmitted from the air transcended imagination. If he was careless thinking a secret technique wasn’t used, the joints of his entire body would be shattered.
Boom!
Yeon Ho-jeong, who stepped the strongest White Tiger’s Sovereign Step during the fight so far, burst out the Sovereign Tiger’s Nine Thunderclaps.
Jjeojeojeojeojeong!
It was a tremendous close combat.
While confronting the Crazy Dragon Axe swung by responding moment by moment with the most ideal form for the intention of attack, he showed a fist secret technique without an inch of retreat.
‘The unrivaled fist arts of Thousand-Year Shaolin…’
He breathed in as if his lungs would burst to build up endurance, and with the Vermilion Bird Qi, he spewed out an explosive blood flow to attack with all his might.
It was a steel attack pushing with the weight of a thousand geun. But that attack wasn’t demonstrating its proper power.
‘It gets blocked. There are no gaps, and there’s no sign of it being pierced.’
It was perfect.
Master Kong-kong’s unexceptional fist arts were striking away all the attacks of the Crazy Dragon Axe.
It wasn’t even a defense. Master Kong-kong was also just counterattacking. The attacks, fighting spirits, and strengths of the two people were colliding head-on.
‘It is surprising.’
Attack is the best defense.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s martial arts were like that. He was an offensive-type martial artist who even carried out attacks with the Black Tortoise Qi, which was a defensive technique.
That was also possible for Master Kong-kong. Even more so, Master Kong-kong hadn’t even taken out Shaolin’s famous secret techniques.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eye light flashed.
‘Above even father!’
Kwaaaang!
At the Crazy Dragon Axe pressing down on his crossed forearms, Master Kong-kong’s two feet dug into the ground by two inches.
Jureureuk.
It was an attack struck down with the momentum to really chop him to death. Blood spread on the forearms of Master Kong-kong who defended against that attack.
Just that much.
Even after blocking an axe strike that would shatter several people on the spot with his bare body, his flesh being damaged was all.
“…That one was dangerous.”
Kwang!
Along with an explosion, Yeon Ho-jeong slid back.
His eyes shook.
‘Heo?!’
Huuuuung.
A subtle golden auspicious energy rose from Master Kong-kong’s body. It was as if the skin itself turned golden.
Master Kong-kong gave a bitter smile.
“As expected, without drawing out the absolute arts of our temple, it seems this is the limit.”
Yeon Ho-jeong, who looked at Master Kong-kong’s arms and then turned his gaze to his axe blade, clicked his tongue.
“Is that the famous Vajra Indestructible Divine Art?”
“It is.”
Master Kong-kong smiled.
“I don’t know how long it’s been. Since I drew up this martial art in a spar with another person.”
“Huu.”
Yeon Ho-jeong evened his breath.
His heart and lungs grew hot from the explosive collision just before. It was his first time too using power to this extent in a one-on-one confrontation.
Excluding the spar with his father.
Chwarrrreuk!
Holding the Crazy Dragon Axe with his right hand, he unwound the Flood Dragon Chain wrapped around his upper body with his left hand.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who had stabilized his breathing before he knew it, smiled and said.
“Let’s go to the second round…”
“Shall we end it here?”
“…Yes?”
Yeon Ho-jeong blinked his eyes.
“Did you say to stop here?”
“I did.”
“Wh-why?”
Yeon Ho-jeong was flustered.
He had used all his strength from the first battle, but he still had plenty of energy left. If he controlled his stamina well, he could fight for another half a day.
However, Master Kong-kong coldly shook his head.
“It seems you don’t need any more sparring.”
“Where in the world is a martial artist who doesn’t need sparring?”
“Hehe, those words are truly correct, but it’s because I have nothing more to give you now.”
“…?”
Master Kong-kong put his hands behind his back.
He showed through his actions that he wanted no further fighting. Seeing Master Kong-kong who truly released his posture, Yeon Ho-jeong also couldn’t help but lose his enthusiasm.
‘I haven’t even brought out the Azure Dragon Art and the Flood Dragon Chain yet.’
Since he said he would receive all the martial arts, he thought about properly polishing them on this opportunity.
But he cheaply told him to stop all of a sudden. He couldn’t help but resent his opponent.
Yeon Ho-jeong grumbled and released his posture.
“It was a good opportunity, so it’s a shame.”
“Hehe, a good opportunity? You were trying to train a new martial art against me?”
“Did you know?”
“It could be seen from your movements. Moreover, that iron chain, you can handle it but it doesn’t look easy.”
It was a sharp discerning eye. He read what the opponent wanted through martial arts, and noticed the opponent’s level through movements.
“Don’t worry. With your level, there’s no need to necessarily polish it through me. If you finish enough training, you’ll be able to use it right away in actual combat.”
“Tsk.”
Master Kong-kong’s eyes deepened.
Yeon Ho-jeong unconsciously flinched.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…”
“…?”
“Look here, Commander Yeon.”
Yeon Ho-jeong unconsciously corrected his posture. Because the weight of his voice was different from before.
“Please speak.”
“I would like you to stop now.”
“What are you talking about?”
Master Kong-kong’s eyes, which had been clear and deep, became sharp like an awl in an instant.
“I will speak well to the Murong Clan Head, so I want both sides to stop the political strife.”
“…!!”