Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 57 - The Justification for the Fight (1)
Chapter 57 – The Justification for the Fight (1)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Myeong On-ji was flustered.
‘What is that?’
Wuuung! Wuuung! Wuuung!
A translucent blue energy that repeated its flickering formed the shape of a snake penetrating a tortoise shell.
It was an amazing sight. If the density of the Qi is strong, its color is bound to be visible to the naked eye when emitting internal energy, but that shape was something different.
‘Will-intent!’
That was right. That was not simple Qi. It was a scene where Qi was materialized following a strongly forged will-intent.
Myeong On-ji was purely surprised. Implementing the form of Qi according to will-intent is close to impossible at the level of a Peak Master.
“You… what is your identity?!”
It was then.
“Kaat! You son of a bitch!”
A faint golden light spread out from Myeong Do’s body.
Myeong On-ji’s eyes shook.
“Myeong Do! No!”
Vroom!
His eyes flipped from anger, and he lunged at Yeon Ho-jeong.
Yeon Ho-jeong smiled broadly.
Thwack!
Myeong Do’s fist was blocked by Yeon Ho-jeong’s palm.
‘It is quite something.’
The fist power transmitted through the palm was decent. He blocked it easily by containing Xuanwu Qi in his hand, but it was powerful enough to shatter even a thick tree.
Crack.
Myeong Do’s eye corners twitched. The fingers wrapping around his fist seemed as if they would break the fist at any moment. It was an enormous grip.
“You bastard!”
Thump!
Striking the forearm with the palm to pull out the fist, he swung his fists like crazy.
Vroom!
Myeong Do’s eyes widened.
The martial art he was unfolding was the Myeong Clan’s Iron Chain Eight Fists.
As a martial art improved from the free-striking Iron Chain Striking, it was a powerful fist technique that drove the opponent with successive hits.
Surprisingly, Yeon Ho-jeong was striking away all of those fist techniques with only one hand.
“It resembles the martial art the third young master punk used.”
Slap! Crack!
Myeong Do’s eyes became bloodshot. Yeon Ho-jeong, who struck away all sixteen fist strikes, snatched his wrist like a ghost.
‘Ugh!’
The wrist was twisted. Soon his entire body was bent to the right.
The grip was too strong, so he could not escape. No, far from escaping, his forearm seemed as if it would break due to the force that was gradually tightening.
Crack!
“Aaaaak!”
Just as Yeon Ho-jeong was thinking of completely crushing the arm.
Flash!
The swordsmen who had spread out in all directions unfolded their sword techniques. They were in a much more cautious state than before, but the sharpness of the sword blades was still the same.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes flashed.
Thump!
Yeon Ho-jeong’s foot landed on Myeong Do’s lower abdomen. Myeong Do’s mouth hung open as he knelt.
Exactly then, the swords of the Hidden Death Squad members reached the immediate vicinity.
Thud!
Lowering his stance, he swung Myeong Do.
‘Heok!’
They did not know he would grab a person’s arm and swing him like an object. And it was at a tremendous speed.
The surprised Hidden Death Squad members retracted their swords.
Yeon Ho-jeong let go of Myeong Do. Three Hidden Death Squad members caught the flying Myeong Do.
Myeong On-ji’s eyes flashed.
‘Now!’
Thump!
In an instant, she struck into Yeon Ho-jeong. That speed was incomparably nimble.
At the same time, Yeon Ho-jeong’s body blurred like mist.
‘Heok!’
Myeong On-ji was terrified. As if he had known she would do that, Yeon Ho-jeong was also rushing toward her.
The momentary approach speed transcended imagination. The moment he kicked off and moved forward, Yeon Ho-jeong had already reached a distance of half a zhang in front.
Boom!
Myeong On-ji’s body flew far back.
The impact was not great. Her martial art was a martial art biased toward the technique of Redirecting Force. An ordinary attack could not give her an impact.
However, what Myeong On-ji was surprised by was not Yeon Ho-jeong’s strength but the attack itself.
‘A body slam?’
To blow away a person with such a reckless charge?
‘What kind of strength…?’
That was not all.
Thump!
Blowing away Myeong On-ji, he turned his body again and rushed toward the Hidden Death Squad member at the very end, and that movement was as natural as flowing water.
In an instant, Yeon Ho-jeong narrowed the distance.
He finally swung the giant axe.
Clang!
The sword was broken in a single strike.
The flustered Hidden Death Squad member dropped the sword and tried to unfold a fist strike.
Pop!
“Ugh!”
The Hidden Death Squad member collapsed on the spot. His bones were broken from the shockwave that exploded at the shoulder.
It was the Yeon Clan’s martial art, Succession of Flying Swallow Palms. How he could use it with a collapsed posture while swinging a giant weapon was unknown even after seeing it.
“Catch him!”
Swish!
The movements of the Hidden Death Squad members jumping toward Yeon Ho-jeong were soft and agile. Even though they moved so quickly, there was no sound of footsteps.
The Hidden Death Squad members swarmed in again.
Myeong On-ji gathered her True Qi from the rear. She was aiming for the decisive moment.
It was then.
‘…!!’
At the gaze of Yeon Ho-jeong looking at her for a split second, Myeong On-ji’s complexion changed abruptly.
‘That fellow…?’
Whoosh! Pop!
The strike that broke the sword was not his full power.
In that place where everyone was lunging in, he swung the axe at a ruthless speed, and the Hidden Death Squad members could not approach due to the shockwave spreading in a circle.
‘He knows the tactics?!’
Vroom!
That was not all.
After making everyone hesitate, he rushed toward a Hidden Death Squad member who was at an appropriate distance and stabbed with the axe.
An axe is a weapon that is swung to split. It is not a weapon that stabs like a spear. However, since it was a heavy weapon weighing eighty geun, it became a terrifying attack in itself.
Crunch!
The Hidden Death Squad member could not even scream and flew away while spitting blood. Judging by the weight of the axe, three or four ribs must have been broken. It was a relief that he did not lose his life right then.
However, an opening was revealed due to that strike. The Hidden Death Squad members swung their swords toward Yeon Ho-jeong’s back.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes emitted a bright blue radiance.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
It was as if a typhoon had struck.
With one swing, ten swords were broken like sorghum stalks.
Myeong On-ji felt her skin crawl.
‘How can this be!’
It was a martial art transcending imagination, an overwhelming power.
Normally, children of prestigious families or high-level martial artists did not use axes well. In addition to the appearance, it was because they could deliver a heavy attack as much as they wanted even with a single sword.
In other words, among martial artists who use giant weapons or heavy weapons, those with skill were not common. Should one say it was a weapon handled by mountain bandits who had learned a little martial arts?
But Yeon Ho-jeong was different.
Thud! Thud!
He struck down to crush and pressure, and pushed with the shaft to blow them away. He stabbed like a spear to break bones, and in between, he sent fist strikes to knock them down.
Not only did he freely change the center of gravity of the axe, but if necessary, he even sent fist and leg strikes. He did not chop to death with the axe blade, but struck with the wide surface of the axe to make them incapable of combat.
It was truly a gale.
It was as if Yeon Ho-jeong himself had become a giant waterspout. The Hidden Death Squad members who were lunging in as if possessed were blown away like falling leaves in an autumn wind by Yeon Ho-jeong’s giant weapon technique.
‘Ick!’
Myeong On-ji, who was about to jump in when she thought an opening was visible, momentarily flinched.
The moment she was about to move, Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes turned toward her.
She did not know how many times it had been like that. It was as if he was seeing through all of her tactics.
‘What is your identity, you fellow?!’
It was then.
“You dog!”
Boom!
Myeong Do rushed forward with a ghostly expression.
“I will tear you to death!”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eye-light emitted fire.
Blowing away one Hidden Death Squad member with a fist, he poured Jade Gauze True Qi into the axe.
Wuuuung!
A vivid blue airflow rose from the axe blade.
Myeong On-ji shouted.
“Myeong Do!!”
Yeon Ho-jeong’s axe moved like a thunderbolt.
Splat!
Myeong Do’s body was split diagonally.
Thud!
His upper body, which flew away unable to overcome the momentum, hit a tree and fell to the ground.
Thump.
The lower body, which had lost its torso, tilted as if trying to take a step and soon fell.
Splash!
A large amount of fresh blood was sprayed. Intestines spilled out of the split torso and scattered on the ground.
“…!!”
Silence fell.
Yeon Ho-jeong frowned.
‘It could not be helped.’
If possible, he intended not to kill. However, he could not afford to look kindly upon a fellow who lunged in with the determination to sincerely kill him.
Myeong On-ji’s eyes shook mercilessly.
“You… do you know what you just did?!”
Boom!
One Hidden Death Squad member flew through the air and hung dangling from a tree branch.
Now only one Hidden Death Squad member was left. If one included Myeong On-ji, the remaining power in the Hidden Death Squad was only two.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who rested the axe on his shoulder, spoke coldly.
“We should go into the second round, right?”
Sss.
Killing intent finally rose in Myeong On-ji’s eyes too.
Yeon Ho-jeong had crossed a bridge that should not be crossed. It would be one thing if it was just an inability to combat, but he had killed a person. Furthermore, he had horribly killed a blood relative of the Myeong Clan.
However, even in the midst of that, Myeong On-ji thought as the Great Leader of the Hidden Death Squad.
‘He is strong. If I use that martial art, I do not know, but other than that, a frontal confrontation is impossible.’
However, this was a forest. There were no trees around the bonfire, but if the distance opened up by just three zhang more, the trees were dense.
Myeong On-ji made a judgment.
“Am-chil! Contact the remaining five and go to the branch!”
Vroom!
The remaining member headed west.
At the same time, a golden light rose from Myeong On-ji’s body. It was an energy of a much higher level than the True Qi Myeong Do had emitted.
Boom!
She lunged with a strong step and extended a palm strike.
Crash!
Along with an explosive sound, Yeon Ho-jeong’s sleeve was torn and blown away.
It was a tremendous power. It was a martial art of a level several dimensions higher than Myeong Do’s fist strike.
Thump!
Myeong On-ji lunged.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes flashed.
‘As expected, she is fast.’
The Hidden Death Squad’s tactics were simple yet efficient.
All members of the Hidden Death Squad lunge to suppress the target. However, if they are not skilled enough to suppress, they distract the attention to create an opening. It was exactly at that time that Myeong On-ji surprise-attacked.
It was a simple but effective tactic. It was even more effective because of Myeong On-ji’s soft expression and aura.
However, looking at Myeong On-ji individually, she showed even greater skill in a one-on-one fight than in coordination with several people.
That fact was proven through several clashes.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Clang!
She was fast.
She sent out lightning-fast fist and palm strikes with graceful movements like a peacock, and each strike contained a certain-kill power.
Yeon Ho-jeong grasped the shaft with both hands.
Crash! Crash!
Yeon Ho-jeong’s axe was just as fast.
The fierce strikes delivered like a storm made one feel the threat to their life in itself. What was more amazing was that there were no openings even while swinging that large weapon.
Pop!
‘Hup!’
Myeong On-ji’s back, which was staggering, hit a tree.
‘To break through!’
Her left hand was stained with blood. She tried to deflect the strike of the iron axe, but because a destructive power was contained in it, she suffered a wound.
It was not an attack that could be deflected. In terms of attacking, he had a skill that was one level higher than hers.
“Chit!”
Myeong On-ji jumped into the forest.
Yeon Ho-jeong followed right behind Myeong On-ji.
Myeong On-ji’s eyes sparkled.
‘Right, follow me.’
She was pushed back in an open place, but it was different in a dense forest.
That iron axe was not just heavy but also long. It was a heavy weapon and a long weapon. It would be difficult to display its power in a forest where trees were dense in all directions.
Furthermore, the opponent had even consumed his stamina while knocking down the Hidden Death Squad. It was a fight where the scales of victory were enough to tilt.
Thump!
Myeong On-ji, who had entered about thirty zhang, only then turned her back. She intended to send a surprise attack from behind the largest tree in the surroundings.
‘You foolish fellow! I will end you here…’
In an instant, Myeong On-ji’s eyes widened.
Whoosh!
The vision blocked by the tree.
However, she saw a blue energy spreading out from the left and right of the tree like lightning.
Crash!
The giant tree exploded as if hit by a cannon.
And in between, Yeon Ho-jeong, holding up the giant iron axe, appeared while exploding a terrifying eye-light.
“Is the tactic you chose only this much?”
“…!!”
“With that head, information my ass.”