Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 113

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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 112. An Uninvited Guest Casts Ash Upon the Feast—3
He could tolerate many things, but he could not abide disparagement of the Baekjeon Sect.
He turned his head and released the tension from his shoulders. A sharp pain radiated from his arm where he’d taken the direct blow moments before, but he paid it no mind.
Cho Yeon Woon circulated his Internal Energy throughout his body. In an instant, his presence transformed. Where moments ago it had seemed incomplete, hollow somehow, now it radiated a solid fullness that left no gap unfilled.
“Hmm!”
As Cho Yeon Woon’s presence shifted, a flicker of tension crossed Yi Yeom Ra’s eyes.
In the next breath, Cho Yeon Woon drove his fist into the earth.
White energy coalesced around his knuckles.
It was the phenomenon that arose when deploying Strike Annihilate Heaven and Earth, the third form of the Eight Emperors Divine Fist.
Crack! Crackle!
The white energy discharged lightning.
Yi Yeom Ra’s palm spread wide open. As though a shield, he concentrated all his power into the splayed hand.
Cho Yeon Woon’s fist drove down into Yi Yeom Ra’s palm.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
A strained groan escaped Yi Yeom Ra’s lips.
His entire body trembled, his organs lurching violently. The tremendous force wave contained in Cho Yeon Woon’s punch shook him to his core.
Yi Yeom Ra retreated hastily backward. But Cho Yeon Woon gave him no quarter.
Whoosh!
As though possessed of wings, Cho Yeon Woon’s form skimmed barely above the ground, closing the distance to Yi Yeom Ra in a heartbeat.
The Flying Hawk Step, the signature movement method of the Baekjeon Sect, unfolded before them.
Like a hawk soaring through the sky with wings fully spread, Cho Yeon Woon approached with both arms extended wide, as though ready to strike from any angle.
Cho Yeon Woon’s eyes blazed with fury.
“You dare retreat before the Eight Emperors Divine Fist?”
The Eight Emperors Divine Fist was a martial art of overwhelming force.
To manifest its true power required both tremendous strength and deep reserves of Internal Energy. Add speed to that, and it became lethal beyond measure.
Yi Yeom Ra retreated, and Cho Yeon Woon surged forward. Speed compounded upon speed.
The fifth form of the Eight Emperors Divine Fist unfolded: Thunder Spirit Light Extinguish.
Snap! Crackle!
White lightning enveloped not just Cho Yeon Woon’s fists but his entire arms.
Yi Yeom Ra’s vision filled with white lightning flickering in and out like the pulse of a failing flame.
Boom!
“Ach!”
With a deafening crack, Yi Yeom Ra was hurled backward through the air. His chest bore the blackened marks of the lightning strike.
“My lord!”
The Blood Lotus Demons stationed nearby rushed forward at Yi Yeom Ra’s peril. The assailants, clad from head to foot in black, joined forces against Cho Yeon Woon.
“Damn it!”
A curse erupted from Cho Yeon Woon’s lips.
The Eight Emperors Divine Fist consisted of seven forms in total.
Each form possessed devastating power, but each demanded an equally catastrophic expenditure of energy.
The final three forms especially consumed Internal Energy at a rate that could only be described as monstrous—deploying even one left him gasping and spent.
In truth, Cho Yeon Woon’s reserves were running dangerously thin.
To have unleashed such a technique and still failed to kill Yi Yeom Ra—this engagement had cost him dearly.
“Tch!”
Cho Yeon Woon bit his lip and surveyed the battlefield around him.
The situation was dire.
From where the Blood Lotus Demons had mustered their forces, their strength far exceeded that of the righteous martial artists gathered at the Akyang Swordgate.
At first they had held their ground, but as time passed, the balance of power had begun to crumble. If this continued even a little longer, most of those assembled here would fall.
Cho Yeon Woon’s gaze suddenly fixed upon Eun So Cheong.
The warriors of the Eun Family, led by Jong Ri Su, were barely holding on. But even that fragile line was beginning to shatter at its edges.
“Curse it all!”
Whatever happened to the others, Eun So Cheong had to be protected. If anything happened to her, he could never face Bang Jin Bo again.
Though they bickered constantly, it was Cho Yeon Woon who looked after Bang Jin Bo most carefully.
But to reach Eun So Cheong, he first had to cut through the enemies blocking his path.
‘Just hold on. Please.’
While Cho Yeon Woon silently begged this of fate, Eun So Cheong’s eyes trembled violently.
Blood spray misted across her vision. From the severed body of a martial artist cleaved in two, blood spattered in fine droplets across her face.
“Ah!”
A scream rose in her throat. But through inhuman force of will, Eun So Cheong swallowed it back down.
“So Cheong.”
Eun Il Myeong shielded Eun So Cheong behind his back.
Half of the Eun Family’s warriors, who had always protected Eun Il Myeong faithfully, had already fallen to the Blood Lotus Demons’ Iron Lotus Swords.
Though these warriors earned a reputation for strength in the wider world, they could not compare to disciples of the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Clans.
Even the martial masters of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans were being pushed back helplessly by the Blood Lotus Demons. Many warriors had died or been wounded, and those still standing fought on in desperate struggle.
What hope, then, for the Eun Family’s far inferior warriors to hold their ground? It was only because Eun So Cheong’s guardian, Jong Ri Su, had stepped to the front that they held even this long—without him, they would have been annihilated long ago.
But even that reserve was nearly exhausted.
“Gah!”
Another Eun Family warrior fell.
Jong Ri Su’s pupils trembled as he gripped his sword tighter.
‘Goak.’
The warrior’s name was Jang Goak—a man Jong Ri Su had maintained cordial relations with.
Yet there was nothing Jong Ri Su could do in the face of his death.
Jong Ri Su was renowned as the Silver Sword Ghost Hand, a master of formidable martial arts, but now even protecting Eun Il Myeong and his daughter strained him to his limits.
The situation deteriorated by the moment.
More and more fell. And most of them were warriors from the Nine Great Sects and the Five Great Clans.
‘This is hell.’
If she could, she would close her eyes and cover her ears. But she could not.
The unspeakable carnage, the screams of the dying—they gripped her vision and hearing alike.
“No!”
Tears streamed down her delicate cheeks.
She tried to hold them back, but could not. They came as if the wellspring had broken, flowing without end.
Slash!
“Aagh!”
With a chilling sound of air being cleaved, another Eun Family warrior perished.
“This makes no sense…”
Eun So Cheong’s father, Eun Il Myeong, trembled.
His face bore an expression of disbelief.
He had known that his family’s warriors were inferior in standing to disciples of the Nine Great Sects, but he had never once imagined they would fall so easily, so pathetically.
Until he entered this place, he had dreamed. He had dreamed of the Eun Family, backed by the Murim Alliance, ascending to become the foremost sect of Honam.
But now he grasped the truth.
The Murim Alliance was formed for a single purpose: to stand against the Demon Cult.
Decades past, even one Demon Cult alone had required the entire Murim to unite against it. And even then, the cost had been staggering.
Countless sects had faced annihilation, and far more martial masters had lost their lives. The Righteous-Demon Great War had shaken the whole of Murim to its foundations.
All of it had been wrought by a single force: the Demon Cult.
In other words, the power wielded by the Demon Cult was that immense—so vast that only by uniting all of Murim could they be matched.
To join the Murim Alliance meant standing on the front lines against such a terrible enemy.
“Krgh!”
One wrong move, and instead of tasting sweet fruit, the Eun Family could face complete annihilation.
Only now did Eun Il Myeong truly feel the weight of that reality.
A terrible dread gripped him.
The emergence of the Demon Cult was now certain. Did they not have the very proof before their eyes?
Clang!
Then a peculiarly brilliant sword ring echoed across the battlefield. And a violent energy wave swept through the air.
“Ugh!”
“Ah!”
Eun Il Myeong and his daughter were both sent staggering by the energy wave. Their faces had gone ashen.
The energy wave born from the collision between Cheong Heo Jinin and Geum Ma Saja swept across the entire Akyang Sword Sect like a tempest.
Geum Ma Saja swung his hand, and Water Gangqi surged forth, crashing down upon Cheong Heo Jinin.
Cheong Heo Jinin’s white beard trembled violently.
He knew better than anyone that ordinary methods could not oppose Gangqi.
Cheong Heo Jinin poured all his power into the Love Sword. A haze shimmered into existence, then coalesced into a faint blade form.
“Sword Gangqi?”
Behind his golden mask, Geum Ma Saja’s brow furrowed slightly.
He had not anticipated that Cheong Heo Jinin had reached a realm capable of manifesting Sword Gangqi.
Boom!
Geum Ma Saja’s Water Gangqi and Cheong Heo Jinin’s Sword Gangqi collided.
Crack-crack-crack!
The courtyard crumbled beneath their clash.
Roof tiles became dust and scattered on the wind; massive pillars thick enough that two grown men could not wrap their arms around them shattered and flew in all directions.
It was power beyond imagination.
Yet the expression of Cheong Heo Jinin, who wielded the Sword Gangqi, was far from pleased. His complexion had turned a sickly gray, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
A single clash had inflicted grave internal wounds.
Water Gangqi or Sword Gangqi—both were forms of Gangqi. But the depth of understanding, the years of cultivation, and the profundity of one’s strength determined vastly different levels of power.
Cheong Heo Jinin had only recently grasped Sword Gangqi. Even then, he had barely comprehended it, leaving it incomplete.
The form was that of Sword Gangqi, but in terms of power, it fell far short.
“Gack!”
At last, Cheong Heo Jinin could hold back no longer and spat up a mouthful of dark blood.
Geum Ma Saja looked down at him and spoke.
“So you had a hidden trump card tucked away, old monk. To have reached the realm of Superior Star Strength Gangqi and yet deceive me so completely—I nearly fell into a grave trap.”
Though Cheong Heo Jinin was called the First Sword of Honam by the world’s consensus, he was believed not yet to have reached the realm where Sword Gangqi could be manifested.
Yet Cheong Heo Jinin had transcended the world’s preconceptions and attained the realm of Superior Star Strength Gangqi. Though his understanding was incomplete and his power consequently diminished, it was nonetheless real.
“Infinite Buddha! This is not yet over.”
Despite the clear disadvantage, Cheong Heo Jinin charged toward Geum Ma Saja once more. He resembled a moth hurling itself toward flame, knowing death awaited.
But Cheong Heo Jinin had no choice. Should he yield here, all those present would be slaughtered.
Cheong Heo Jinin gritted his teeth and channeled his Sword Gangqi.
Han So Yoo, watching Cheong Heo Jinin’s form, clenched her jaw.
Everyone was locked in desperate struggle.
The disciples of Hua Shan Sect were taking heavy casualties as well.
Several of the Second-generation Disciples had already been wounded or killed. That they had survived this long at all owed entirely to Myeong Gyeong holding the line against the masked figure at the front; without him, they would have been annihilated long ago.
Master Hyun Mu was fighting valiantly, but his limits were evident.
Han So Yoo, too, was rushing from point to point to protect the disciples of Hua Shan Sect, yet she was now reaching the end of her strength.
“Hah! Hah!”
Ragged, strained breath escaped through her parted lips.
“A woman of some skill, I see.”
Then one of the enemies approached her.
A martial artist whose presence radiated unusual power—Sam Yeom Ra, one of the three Yeom Ras. He leveled his blade at Han So Yoo.
Han So Yoo’s Internal Energy was nearly depleted, while he bore not a bead of sweat. A fight of this caliber was merely warm-up exercise for him.
“Die!”
He swung his sword.
Clang-clang!
Han So Yoo deployed the Plum Blossom Thirty-Six Sword Art desperately in defense. But with her Internal Energy failing, her hands and feet quickly fell into disarray.
Rip!
“Ugh!”
Han So Yoo, having taken a blade strike across her shoulder, lost her grip on her sword.
“Miss!”
“So Yoo!”
Myeong Gyeong and Hyun Mu, seeing this from a distance, cried out in unison and surged forward. But each was locked in combat with their own opponents and could not break free.
Myeong Gyeong in particular was held fast by Il Yeom Ra, with no way to extricate himself.
Sam Yeom Ra’s blade descended toward Han So Yoo’s throat.
“No!”
It was the moment Myeong Gyeong’s voice tore from his throat in desperation.
Thud!
Suddenly, a heavy tremor reverberated across the entire Akyang Swordgate.
The strange sound—unsettling enough to unease the heart—made everyone flinch. Even Geum Ma Saja, who had been overwhelming Cheong Heo Jinin, was no exception.
Thud! Scrape! Thud! Scrape!
The ominous sound grew louder, spreading ever wider.

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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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