Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 11. Walking the Road Together—Part 2
A month. That was how long it took for Dam Ho to move on his own strength. During that time, he spent most of his hours in Cloud Practice.
Rising at dawn, taking an Unyang Pill, and employing the Jungcheon Heart Method—before he knew it, the day had slipped away without a trace.
True to Hyeon So’s promise, the Unyang Pill and the Jungcheon Heart Method achieved a subtle synergy. The sluggish, clinging qi of the Heart Method erupted like wildfire the moment the pill was consumed.
Unable to move his body, Dam Ho drove deeper into the Jungcheon Heart Method. As he burrowed in with relentless focus, details that had once escaped him began to reveal themselves.
While Dam Ho immersed himself thus, Hyeon So ventured back into Samgong Mountain to gather the medicinal herbs needed for crafting Unyang Pills.
When Hyeon So finally reappeared at their dwelling, he was laden with bundles piled high as a mountain. The moment he arrived, he set to work refining the pills without pause.
By the time Dam Ho could move again, Hyeon So had completed hundreds of Unyang Pills.
“How does your body feel?”
“Well enough to move.”
His words were one thing, but Dam Ho’s condition was another. The prolonged immobility had left him rigid throughout. Restoring those stone-hard muscles to their former state was the urgent priority.
Especially his left leg. The muscle he’d carefully built climbing the mountains had withered pitifully away. He would have to rebuild it from nothing.
Yet Dam Ho did not despair. Though he had lost much, he had gained far more in return.
“Master.”
“You already know the existing Hwasan Sect martial arts don’t suit you. We must create new martial arts—arts suited only to you, made for you alone.”
Dam Ho’s eyes blazed.
It was something he already knew. Five years of bone-deep anguish had taught him that lesson.
“The first priority is perfecting a footwork technique suited only to you. You have no need for flashy footwork. With that leg, you cannot master it, and besides, it would only hinder your mastery of other arts.”
“I understand.”
Dam Ho assented readily. He had arrived at the same conclusion as Hyeon So.
“A plain footwork with no flourish, yet optimal for deploying your martial arts. What footwork could that be?”
Hyeon So bent down and began gathering small stones scattered across the floor, arranging them on a low table.
Piled high like a fortress in miniature.
“These are your enemy.”
……
“Those who have perfected their own martial arts and achieved an unshakeable fortress-like defense. How would you face such an opponent? What footwork would you deploy? Have you ever given it thought?”
“I must overwhelm them with force. That is the only path I have.”
“True. You must overwhelm them with force. But have you considered how to multiply that force?”
“By building physical strength……”
“Speed.”
“Pardon?”
“Greater speed increases force.”
Hyeon So picked up a small branch from the floor and placed it on the table.
The branch faced the fortress of stones.
Hyeon So suddenly flicked the branch with his finger. The branch shot forward at speed and shattered the stone fortress entirely.
“A Battering Ram—the siege weapon that brings down fortress walls in a single strike. Your footwork must be like that Battering Ram.”
“A Battering Ram?”
“Yes! Move with terrifying speed, concentrating all power at a single point. If you can achieve that, simplicity itself will overcome complexity. This is my answer.”
……
Dam Ho could not speak. The fog that had clouded his mind was lifting.
A possibility that had been invisible before now began to take shape.
Hyeon So’s voice rang out.
“A footwork like a Battering Ram that shatters fortress walls—I will call it the Charging Step.”
“The Charging Step……”
“From now on, it is what you and I must create together.”
Hyeon So’s words resonated deeply in Dam Ho’s chest.
＊＊＊
Charging Step.
A footwork like the Battering Ram that charges toward a fortress wall.
Once the framework was set, Hyeon So and Dam Ho pursued it with fierce devotion. Hyeon So poured forth the knowledge he had held locked in his mind.
“Among the forbidden arts known throughout the Gangho, there exists a martial technique called the Hyeol Cheon Gak.”
“The Hyeol Cheon Gak?”
“A secret technique of Woo Gyeong Pae, the Iron-Blooded Tyrant who roamed the Gangho alone a hundred and twenty years ago. It is said that a single kick raises a crimson storm of blood across the sky—a technique of unparalleled viciousness.”
With the Hyeol Cheon Gak alone, Woo Gyeong Pae had risen to the ranks of the Top Ten Masters. But his ferocious nature and indiscriminate violence made him a common enemy of the Gangho.
Hundreds of martial masters mobilized to strike him down. Yet Woo Gyeong Pae escaped their pursuit and vanished without trace.
He never emerged into the world again. Thus he became legend, and now, few remained who even remembered Woo Gyeong Pae’s name.
“Common folk believed he simply grew weary of the Gangho and secluded himself. The truth, however, was different. It was the sect’s first master, the Huashan Sword Immortal Sang Cheon Ja, who stepped forth when he could bear the devastation no longer.”
Sang Cheon Ja numbered among the Top Ten Masters of his age, and with the blade, he was rival to the finest of his generation.
Sang Cheon Ja and Woo Gyeong Pae fought through day and night. A battle that shook heaven and earth unfolded, and in the end, Sang Cheon Ja prevailed by the slimmest margin.
“Had Woo Gyeong Pae not exhausted his strength evading pursuit by the Gangho masters, Sang Cheon Ja would never have subdued him. That was the measure of Woo Gyeong Pae’s strength.”
After Sang Cheon Ja killed Woo Gyeong Pae, he had intended to burn the Forbidden Scripture containing the Hyeol Cheon Gak, a Secret Technique unique to the heretic sect. But once Sang Cheon Ja examined the Hyeol Cheon Gak, he found himself unable to follow through.
“Though it was misused in the hands of a master like Woo Gyeong Pae, the martial technique of Hyeol Cheon Gak itself was truly magnificent. For that reason, the elder Sang Cheon Ja had the Scholar-Daoists commit it to memory. It could never be kept openly.”
And so the Hyeol Cheon Gak was passed down to the present day through the oral tradition of the Scholar-Daoists.
“They say that when one masters Shaolin’s Wu Ying Gak, the body can float suspended in mid-air while delivering eighteen kicks in succession. It becomes possible through the exquisite distribution of Internal Energy and the maximized subtlety of linked motion. But Hyeol Cheon Gak is different. It gives no thought to the subtlety of linked motion or the distribution of Internal Energy—it aims only to shatter the opponent with a single blow.”
Dam Ho fixed his gaze upon Hyeon So.
In the five years they had been together, this was the first time he had seen Hyeon So speak with such fervor.
“Hyeol Cheon Gak needs no fancy Footwork Technique. Only sturdy legs to serve as its pillar. As you practice and study Hyeol Cheon Gak, the Charging Step too shall surely be perfected.”
“I understand.”
Dam Ho nodded.
He trusted his master. Whatever he said would surely have good reason behind it.
Hyeon So’s face was flushed red with heat. Yet there was not a moment’s hesitation in his heart as he taught Dam Ho the Hyeol Cheon Gak.
The sect leader, Hyeon Cheon, had instructed Hyeon So not to impart the Hwasan Sect’s martial techniques to Dam Ho. But the Hyeol Cheon Gak was not a technique of the Hwasan Sect. There was no reason to hesitate.
After hearing all of the forms and Internal Energy applications of the Hyeol Cheon Gak, Dam Ho finally understood why Hyeon So had spoken with such passion.
The Hyeol Cheon Gak required no intricate movements. What was needed was only the preparatory motion to maximize destructive force—a martial technique that even Dam Ho, with his troubled legs, could fully execute.
The problem was that to unleash the Hyeol Cheon Gak, one required tremendous leg strength, explosive lung capacity, and the precise manipulation of Internal Energy.
‘Master.’
Dam Ho felt respect for Hyeon So welling up unbidden.
This was not simply a matter of presenting a Secret Technique and telling him to practice it. It was a solution crafted with consideration for Dam Ho’s physical condition, his efforts thus far, and the direction of his development.
One could plainly see how many nights Hyeon So must have wrestled with this problem, how many sleepless hours he had endured.
After that, Hyeon So continued to pour forth all the knowledge he possessed. Having heard everything, Dam Ho engaged with him in intense discussion.
The foundation of it all was the Charging Step that Hyeon So had first mentioned.
Creating a Battering Ram-like Footwork Technique and martial techniques to match it became the paramount task of the two men.
Day after day, the two of them engaged in fierce debate. Passing sleepless nights became routine, and sometimes they went days without a single moment of rest.
Creating a new martial technique was not easy even for masters of great renown. How much more impossible, then, for a Scholar-Daoist armed only with theory and a young, reckless martial artist burdened only with ambition?
Yet the two possessed an advantage that others lacked: they did not know how to surrender easily. And they were remarkably tenacious.
Neither Dam Ho nor Hyeon So held significant standing within the Hwasan Sect. Few paid attention to what they did. Thanks to that, Hyeon So and Dam Ho could test and develop their martial techniques far more freely.
If Hyeon So provided the theoretical direction, then verifying it through practice fell to Dam Ho.
Without the support of a stable Heart Method like the Jungcheon Heart Method, such an attempt would have been unthinkable.
Dam Ho ceased his climbs up and down Huashan. It was to avoid drawing the attention of others. Instead, he began to train in a special manner.
Behind Hyeon So’s dwelling, there was a small open space and a great boulder. The boulder was as enormous as a great hall.
Hyeon So drew a small circle on the rock at its lower face, roughly at Dam Ho’s eye level.
Dam Ho watched calmly as Hyeon So worked.
Hyeon So drew a straight line from the rock bearing the circle out toward the open ground.
The straight line was marked on the earth, and Dam Ho was positioned at its end.
“From today on, this is your task.”
“How should I proceed?”
“From this spot, you are to leap to that boulder in a single bound and strike the circle with your fist.”
Dam Ho’s brow furrowed slightly.
The distance from where he stood to the boulder was some two zhang—six meters.
Even a healthy person, even a martial artist trained in techniques, would find such a distance too far to cover in a single leap.
Hyeon So pointed to the line drawn on the earth.
“You must leap only from your left foot, and you must never deviate from this line.”
“Master.”
“I know that with your legs, this is nearly impossible. But you must accomplish it.”
At Hyeon So’s words, Dam Ho nodded silently.
His left leg was slightly bent and twisted. Because of this, he could not apply proper strength, and gauging the correct direction was difficult.
This training was not merely about strengthening the left leg.
Since his leg was crooked, Dam Ho’s bodily balance had shifted considerably. If he could complete this training, his sense of equilibrium would develop to its peak.
“Begin.”
“Yes!”
Dam Ho obeyed Hyeon So’s instruction without complaint.
Thump!
He launched himself toward the boulder.
“Ugh!”
Dam Ho’s face contorted.
He had not even covered a third of the distance to the rock before falling short. Worst of all, he had veered far to the left of the line Hyeon So had drawn.
This was proof that Dam Ho’s body was twisted toward the left.
Hyeon So’s voice came, sharp as a blade.
“Again!”
Dam Ho returned to his starting position without hesitation. Then he leaped toward the boulder once more.
“Gasp, gasp!”
Dam Ho’s breathing grew harsher by the moment.
He drove himself off the ground, rolling across the dirt until his body was caked with earth. Yet his eyes burned brighter than ever, gleaming with fierce intensity.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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