Monochrome Sovereign (Novel) - Chapter 80 - Natural Enemy (5)
Chapter 80 – Natural Enemy (5)
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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“Oh no! Team Leader! We must quickly help the eldest young master……!”
“Wait.”
“Pardon?!”
“Wait.”
“B-But Team Leader! The eldest young master is in danger!”
“From where do you see that?”
The Goshawk Squad, which was hiding in the forest, could watch all the fighting taking place at the front.
Shin Mo’s eyes sparkled.
“The eldest young master can sufficiently handle them.”
“Is he r-really that strong?”
“He is strong. But it is a little different from just that.”
Shin Mo also was not certain. Exactly how the eldest young master was dealing with the enemies. The distance was one thing, and the number of enemies was too many.
But this one thing was certain.
‘He knows the enemies’ weaknesses.’
It was not at a level of just knowing vaguely.
That was a response close to almost perfect neutralization. With a single footstep and a single hand gesture, the enemies’ martial arts were being shattered like dry stalks.
Whenever they tried to catch him, he would already have withdrawn out of their range of attack to strike another enemy, and if an uninformed person saw it, they would think they had practiced the moves in advance.
Shin Mo was bewildered.
‘He is looking through the enemies’ martial arts thoroughly. How is such a thing possible?’
Don’t tell me the eldest young master has grasped all the articles of the Myeong Clan’s martial arts? How?
It was then.
Chirp! Chirp!
A bird’s song was heard from beyond the bushes. It was a bird’s song that contained a very faint internal energy.
The eyes of the Goshawk Squad members sparkled.
“Everyone, get ready.”
Wooooong.
Inside Shin Mo’s body, the power of the Dragon Cannon slowly rose.
“Once the signal comes, we will push through immediately.”
* * *
Thwack!
Flesh and blood burst out.
‘I can see it.’
Crack! Slice!
With a single swing of the axe, a horse’s head and the torso of a Dead Sword were split and flew away as a whole.
‘I can see everything.’
The White Tiger Qi soared to the heavens, and the Black Tortoise Qi spread out broadly.
The martial arts of the Four Gods became more intense as time passed. However, it was not simply just rough.
Although rough and fierce, it was delicate and flexible. In the place where the Spirit Turtle True Qi and Qilin True Qi were running wild, Yeon Ho-jeong’s martial arts were blooming more brilliantly than ever before.
Thwack! Thwack!
It was a god-like axe work.
Spear techniques and saber techniques, staff techniques and chaotic striking techniques became one, being reborn as axe techniques that displayed lethal power.
Swinging and striking down. Crushing and smashing.
It was a martial art that maximized the power of a heavy weapon full of destructive force.
That was not all.
Buzz!
Against the swirling swords and the spreading force of fists and palms, the White Tiger Qi and Black Tortoise Qi rose of their own accord and reduced their power.
No, it was more of an absorption rather than just a reduction. The axe and fists dismantled the destructive emission of force, and the energy thus dismantled was attached to by the White Tiger Qi and Black Tortoise Qi, which then consumed it after resolving it.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s glint in his eyes became gradually deeper.
‘It is done!’
He did not get tired.
The enemies’ Qi, their emission of force, and the shockwaves were instead fanning Yeon Ho-jeong’s true Qi more strongly.
The axe, swung with the strengthened Qi contained in it, transformed into an invincible divine weapon that flew off the enemies’ necks and crushed their torsos.
Swish!
Yeon Ho-jeong’s movements became noticeably faster.
The power of the axe increased explosively. The emission of force from the Yeon Clan’s Thirteen Fists and the Linked Flying Swallow Palm turned like a sledgehammer, taking away the lives of the Dead Swords.
Myeong Jeok-ryang, the leader of the fifty Dead Swords, was astonished.
“T-That monster!”
Yeon Ho-jeong, who was sweeping through the Dead Swords while emitting terrifying murderous intent.
He was literally like a single storm. When the martial arts of the White Tiger, the Great Emperor of the West, passed by, a spray of blood soared, and when the martial arts of the Black Tortoise, the Great Emperor of the North, rose, the sound of bones breaking echoed.
He was matchless. To the warriors of the Myeong Clan who had learned the four great divine arts of the Four Spirits, the existence named Yeon Ho-jeong was no different from a disaster.
Thwack!
With a gruesome sound, the necks of two Blood-Sweating Horses flew high into the sky. Simultaneously, the torsos of three Dead Swords were torn to pieces and scattered.
Flash!
In an instant, Myeong Jeok-ryang felt a chill.
The enemy, who was wielding a heavy weapon the size of a human body, had captured him. It felt as if the glint of the black and white divine energies would pierce through his head at once.
Boom!
The ominous feeling was right on target.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who pushed away the Dead Swords with force, kicked the back of a Blood-Sweating Horse, soared into the air, and sprang toward Myeong Jeok-ryang.
‘Eek!’
Myeong Jeok-ryang’s hand headed toward the long sword on his back. Phoenix True Qi blazed like fire.
It was then.
Boom!
With a massive shockwave, Yeon Ho-jeong’s body was flung backward.
Crunch!
He caught his posture the moment he landed on the ground, but the aftermath of the force was too strong. Yeon Ho-jeong’s two feet created long furrows.
Whoosh!
Before he knew it, in front of Myeong Jeok-ryang, a swordsman who sparked the flames of the Fire God stood.
“Insolent fellow!”
Rumble!
The ground around the two feet that Myeong Cheon had stepped on began to crack like a spider web.
Whoosh!
The blazing flames swept through the surroundings.
‘How can this be!’
Myeong Jeok-ryang received a huge shock.
‘To think he has already refined the Phoenix Divine Art to that extent……!’
It was overwhelming. He himself had also refined the Phoenix Divine Art day and night, but the level was completely different.
The Clan Head of the Nine States Myeong Clan, the Thunder Fire Divine Sword Myeong Cheon.
The ultra-peak master who had spread his fame throughout the four seas with a sword technique as fast as a thunderbolt and as powerful as a flame finally intervened in the fight.
Murderous intent soared in Myeong Cheon’s eyes as he looked around. As many as more than half of the Dead Swords had lost their lives in that brief engagement.
“You incompetent lot! I cannot just stand by and watch you!”
Surprisingly, his anger was directed not at Yeon Ho-jeong but at the Dead Swords.
“Exactly how half-heartedly did you refine the divine art that you are defeated by a mere brat like that!”
It was a ridiculous fault-finding.
There was no way Myeong Cheon had not seen what was visible even in Myeong Jeok-ryang’s eyes. Yeon Ho-jeong’s martial arts were strong in themselves, but they were perfectly neutralizing the martial arts of this side.
In other words, it meant that he was thoroughly burrowing into and defeating the weaknesses of the four great divine arts. Nevertheless, to say that they refined the divine art half-heartedly?
“You vermin-like fellows! To think I intended to plan for the world while trusting you, I was foolish!”
Of course, Myeong Cheon also knew that there was no problem with the martial arts of the Dead Swords. He also knew that Yeon Ho-jeong’s martial arts transcended imagination, and that the fellow was thoroughly grasping the weaknesses of the four great divine arts.
But he could not admit it.
The Myeong Clan was a clan established by ancestors who had driven away the Blood Cult along with the Four Directions Martial Emperor, who was called the strongest in the history of the Murim.
And what they were refining now was a martial art that had left a mark during the worst period of chaos and the heyday of the Murim. Myeong Cheon did not want to admit the fact that such a martial art was being neutralized by a mere brat.
Crunch.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who stood up after stepping strongly on the pushed-aside soil, looked at Myeong Cheon with a smile.
“Have you finally graced us with your presence?”
Myeong Cheon’s eyes sparkled.
It was a single sword strike he had swung with quite some force. It was a power where even a master of the Dead Sword level could not avoid internal injuries, yet he seemed to be perfectly fine.
A heavy voice flowed out of Myeong Cheon’s mouth.
“Right, it seems you indeed had some skill.”
Clang!
A resilient sword hum echoed from the sword Myeong Cheon held.
It was not a common sword found in the Central Plains. It was a double-handed sword that was a foot longer and twice as wide as any other long sword.
It was a form closer to a military greatsword rather than a sword of the Jianghu Murim. The hilt was also a double-handed sword hilt exceeding one foot.
A madness wavered on Myeong Cheon’s face, beyond just murderous intent.
“I will cut off your neck and throw it in the face of Yeon Wi, that damn fellow. I am curious whether he will maintain his composure even after seeing his son’s head pickled in salt.”
It was a considerable provocation. For Yeon Ho-jeong, who harbored an extreme sense of debt toward his kin, there was no provocation greater than this.
‘…….’
But why?
His heart was calmer than expected. Even with the real enemy who had instigated the destruction of his clan in front of him, his eyes were only clear.
Whoosh.
A white wind dwelled on the axe blade that moved slowly.
Yeon Ho-jeong, who looked up at the sky, closed his eyes.
‘Finally, it is here.’
He had left the clan and entered Henan. Since then, he had shaken the Myeong Clan with several battles.
In truth, it was not such a long time. But for Yeon Ho-jeong, it was a period that felt all too long.
‘Father. I intend to eliminate one deep-seated grudge that you do not know about in this very spot. You would not know, but I will still have my revenge.’
Thinking of his father, Yeon Ji-pyeong naturally came to mind as well.
Thinking of the white hands of his younger brother who used to offer him rice balls with a bright face, it felt as if his eyes were dazzled.
‘Pyeong-ah.’
Strength entered the hand gripping the pole.
‘In the future as well, I will personally receive and drink all the tears you will shed.’
The father of the past, the father of the present.
The brother of the past, the brother of the present.
The past of the two people, which was dotted with deep grudges, and the future of the two people, which was leaping forward vigorously, became one, finally becoming the present of Yeon Ho-jeong.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s eyes snapped open.
Boom!
Along with a powerful stomp, an aura that shook heaven and earth soared.
Yeon Ho-jeong shouted.
With a dignified voice, containing the fighting spirit of a martial artist.
“Come, Myeong Cheon.”
It was an imposing momentum that had not been seen from anyone else.
Myeong Cheon’s face became messily distorted.
“……You brat!”
Whish!
Myeong Cheon charged.
It was the beginning. The duel, the bloody battle, and the debt of blood created by the Jianghu were at this moment demanding the lives of the two people.
Yeon Ho-jeong’s axe and Myeong Cheon’s greatsword collided head-on.
Boom!
A massive roar shook the earth.
It was a collision of a heavy weapon against another heavy weapon. it was a confrontation of force against force.
Boom!
Yeon Ho-jeong’s body flew backward.
It was an unavoidable inferiority of force. Myeong Cheon was an ultra-peak master, a once-in-ah-lifetime swordsman placed on the same line as Yeon Wi. For the current Yeon Ho-jeong, a head-on confrontation with him was a crazy act.
Thump! Boom!
But Yeon Ho-jeong did not stop.
He quickly corrected his flying body and took the two steps of the White Tiger’s sovereign reign.
‘What?!’
Myeong Cheon thought he had made him incapable of combat with a single strike, but apparently not. The moment he was flung back, he rushed in again with a storm-like momentum, which was twice as powerful as before.
Myeong Cheon swung his sword.
Yeon Ho-jeong also delivered a fierce attack.
Clang! Clang!
The weapons of the two people collided, bursting forth brilliant sparks.
It was unknown how many times they collided in a short moment. It was a speed that was hard to keep up with even with the eyesight of a peak master. Even though both of them were wielding heavy weapons, they used martial arts as fast as a swift sword.
A gleam appeared in Myeong Cheon’s eyes.
“Insolent fellow!”
Slice!
Blood splattered from Yeon Ho-jeong’s chest.
It was a single sword strike that had entered quite deeply. It was a diagonal sword wound that came down from the left clavicle to the right abdomen.
It was when Myeong Cheon wore a fishy smile.
Boom!
“Urgh!”
Myeong Cheon’s body slid backward.
Yeon Ho-jeong had immediately swung his axe even after being hit by a sword strike that made a counterattack impossible. If Myeong Cheon had been careless, his torso would have been split by this strike.
“What a crazy bastard!”
Thump! Thump!
The White Tiger’s Sovereign Step was unfolded.
It was a stomp that pulled up powerful force as time passed. Even the world-renowned Myeong Cheon could not hide his panic at the momentum of that Tiger King.
Clang! Clang!
The power of the axe, which blazed as it received the momentum, became gradually stronger.
Thump! Thump!
It was an advancement again. It was an attack.
Clang! Clang!
The speed increased as much as the power. The violent force of the Sovereign Tiger’s Nine Thunderclaps became a thunderbolt and struck down.
Whoosh!
And before he knew it, Yeon Ho-jeong’s movements realized an incredible speed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Against the martial art that swept through in an instant, Myeong Cheon’s body moved backward like crazy.
It was the Continuous Advancing Step of the White Tiger’s sovereign reign. As he swept through the opponent with extreme fighting spirit, the White Tiger Qi was before long drawing out the secret technique of the Sovereign Step.
Boom!
Myeong Cheon’s body creaked. Blood flowed from the hand gripping the sword hilt.
Yeon Ho-jeong distorted his face.
The opponent’s blood stimulated his ferocity.
“Myeong Cheon……!”
Flash! Boom!
He blocked the downward axe strike, but his two feet were buried in the ground up to his ankles.
Thwack!
It was a surprising sight. Yeon Ho-jeong’s fist finally struck Myeong Cheon’s shoulder.
Myeong Cheon staggered.
Above Yeon Ho-jeong’s face, the image of an angry wild beast arose.
“Do not back down at this level! If you do not do it properly, I will tear you to death!”