Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 114

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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 113. A Reunion After So Long, Yet the Heart Feels Nothing Like It Once Did—1
Hae So Wol, fighting alongside O Gun Ui against the assailants, felt her heart drop as her body stiffened with a jolt.
The air in the hall, which had been burning so intensely, turned bitterly cold in an instant.
A man was approaching, dragging one foot.
He struck the ground with his right foot, then dragged his left foot slightly as he walked forward.
Thump! Scrape! Thump! Scrape!
The off-beat rhythm of his footsteps stirred something unsettling deep within everyone’s chest.
It was Dam Ho.
The moment Dam Ho appeared, one man visibly stiffened—Namgoong Chang, the one who had orchestrated today’s assembly.
“Ugh!”
Namgoong Chang’s facial muscles contorted grotesquely.
It was a reaction beyond his control. He tried desperately to compose himself, but it was useless.
His body responded of its own accord to the terror etched into his mind.
His hands and feet trembled as though seized by a chill; his heart hammered wildly. Cold sweat drenched his entire body, and the whites of his eyes flushed crimson.
Yet not a single person in that hall paid any attention to Namgoong Chang’s reaction.
Every eye was fixed on one man alone—Dam Ho.
Dam Ho possessed power.
An inexplicable force that commanded all eyes toward him.
The moment he appeared, no one could look away. That ominous, overwhelming presence ensured it.
Not only the martial artists of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans, but even Gold Horse Lion and the assailants who had invaded paused their fighting to stare at him.
All eyes upon him, Dam Ho continued his measured walk.
A deep furrow carved itself between Gold Horse Lion’s brows beneath his Golden Mask.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
His heart beat wildly of its own accord.
Unknown to the world, he was a martial artist who had wandered through countless death arenas in his time. Naturally, the experience he had accumulated far surpassed that of ordinary warriors.
Yet even he had never encountered anyone like Dam Ho—someone whose mere presence filled the heart with such dread.
‘It’s that gait.’
The off-beat footsteps.
An ordinary person’s walk synchronizes with the rhythm of their heartbeat—they are born that way, and most adapt to it throughout their lives.
But Dam Ho’s footsteps were off-beat. The sound disrupted the natural rhythm of people’s hearts. That was why everyone’s hearts thrashed about so uneasily.
Gold Horse Lion, abandoning his fierce exchange with the Zhenren of Clear Emptiness, now fixed his gaze upon Dam Ho.
Instinctively, he sensed Dam Ho was far more dangerous than the Zhenren.
The Zhenren of Clear Emptiness was undoubtedly a formidable fighter. Yet he lacked that overwhelming aura of presence and killing intent that compelled caution.
It was as if the Daoist possessed a natural limitation inherent to his kind.
In contrast, Dam Ho emanated an aura that unsettled all who faced him. Like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
“Who are you?”
Gold Horse Lion’s voice rang out desolately. Yet Dam Ho’s gaze was not fixed upon him.
His eyes turned elsewhere—toward a woman.
Twelve years had passed, yet she remained graceful and beautiful. Han So Yoo—one of the precious few at Hua Shan who had treated him with unwavering sincerity.
San Yeom Ra stood before her in a menacing stance, his blade pressed against her neck.
A slight added pressure, and her head would sever from her body.
Dam Ho took a step toward Han So Yoo.
“What—what are you doing?”
Startled by his momentum, San Yeom Ra snarled.
Dam Ho’s gaze swept toward San Yeom Ra.
“Get out of the way.”
“You dare!”
Beneath his mask, San Yeom Ra’s eyebrows shot upward.
In all the time he had served Gold Horse Lion, no one had ever spoken to him with such brazen contempt.
He tightened his grip on the blade.
“First, I’ll end this woman’s life, then I’ll tear you limb from—”
In that instant, San Yeom Ra’s eyes widened.
Whoosh!
Dam Ho had closed the distance without warning.
Between black hair rippling violently, the gleam of a beast’s eyes blazed with intensity.
A charge like a battering ram.
Shriek!
A wave of force erupted toward San Yeom Ra in its wake.
“Ack!”
San Yeom Ra withdrew his blade from Han So Yoo’s neck and swung it toward Dam Ho.
Whoosh!
A silver blade extended in a long arc, targeting Dam Ho’s hand.
San Yeom Ra intended to sever Dam Ho’s wrist with this strike.
It was his understanding that no matter how much one trained, a human fist made of flesh could not withstand metal.
Clang!
But when Dam Ho’s fist collided with the blade and shattered it into fragments with a clear, ringing sound, San Yeom Ra instantly sensed something was terribly wrong.
Dam Ho’s fist, which had destroyed San Yeom Ra’s blade, bore not a single scratch. San Yeom Ra’s certainty had shattered along with it.
“Ugh!”
San Yeom Ra threw himself backward in haste.
It was Dam Ho’s fist—the one that had crushed even his blade infused with all his martial power. If that fist connected, the damage would be far worse than mere torn muscles and broken bones.
Retreat first, then counterattack. That was San Yeom Ra’s thinking.
But in the next moment, he would feel the bitter realization of how foolish his judgment had been.
It was only natural that rushing forward was faster than pulling back.
By the time San Yeom Ra regained his senses, Dam Ho had already closed the distance to his chest.
Grab!
Instead of the Explosive Cannon Fist, Dam Ho seized San Yeom Ra by the collar.
“Gasp!”
Under the crushing grip of Dam Ho’s powerful hand around his throat, San Yeom Ra’s face drained of all color.
San Yeom Ra hastily tried to deploy an emergency escape technique to break free from Dam Ho’s grip. But before he could even react, his body was violently wrenched upward into the air.
San Yeom Ra’s body, lifted skyward alongside Dam Ho, flipped completely inverted.
The martial art Ground Heaven Strike, which wielded the earth itself as a weapon, unfolded.
In San Yeom Ra’s eyes, the ground rushed up with terrifying speed.
“No, this can’t—!”
Boom!
In that instant, with a deafening crash, San Yeom Ra’s head was driven into the earth.
His head was nowhere to be seen. Instead, fragments of shattered bone and brain matter were scattered across the ground in all directions.
San Yeom Ra’s headless body convulsed for a moment before collapsing limp to the ground.
“Agh!”
“Ugh!”
Many in the crowd squeezed their eyes shut at the gruesome sight of San Yeom Ra without a head.
It had happened far too quickly.
Because of this, not only the other members of the Yeom Ra but even Gold Horse Lion could not muster any response.
Blood flowing from San Yeom Ra’s body stained the blue-stone floor crimson.
“You… you?”
Il Yeom Ra, who had been facing Myeong Gyeong until now, stammered.
San Yeom Ra and he were like blood brothers. Since they began learning martial arts, they had not spent a single day apart in decades. And he had believed they would continue together for as long as fate allowed.
But Il Yeom Ra’s hope was shattered by Dam Ho.
“I told you to leave.”
Dam Ho spoke coldly.
Han So Yoo stared blankly at Dam Ho standing directly before her.
Tousled hair wild as a madman’s, and beneath it, deep black eyes. A mouth pressed firmly shut.
Though she felt as if she were seeing him for the first time, something about him felt strangely familiar.
“Um…”
Han So Yoo tried to speak, but Dam Ho passed by her without acknowledgment.
He headed toward where Eun So Cheong stood.
“Ah… you there.”
Eun So Cheong’s voice trembled when she saw Dam Ho.
“Are you hurt?”
“No!”
“Any injuries?”
At Dam Ho’s question, Eun So Cheong shook her head vigorously.
She was trying hard to appear composed, but her eyes were brimming with tears.
“Bang Jin Bo is worried. Let’s go.”
“But…”
Dam Ho spoke to Eun So Cheong, who still hesitated in fear.
“It’s all right.”
In that moment, Eun So Cheong felt something warm surge up from deep within her chest.
It was relief.
Her surroundings still lay in a hellish landscape. But with Dam Ho present, she found herself believing that everything would be fine.
“Yes!”
Eun So Cheong wiped away his tears and nodded vigorously.
That was when it happened.
“Kheh-kheh! Well, isn’t this amusing.”
A voice mixed with the ring of metal emanated from between the Gold Horse Lion’s golden mask.
For this day, they had invested vast human and material resources.
They had investigated the identities of all who gathered here, carefully analyzed their temperaments and martial prowess, and committed their full strength to the effort.
They had accepted the risk of losing the forces they had painstakingly cultivated. All of it was for the outcome they desired.
Yet everything changed with the arrival of a single man—Dam Ho. He was a figure who existed nowhere in their calculations.
Turning his head to gaze at the Zhenren Qingxu, the Gold Horse Lion saw that even he stared at Dam Ho with a dazed expression, as if unprepared. That sight struck him as darkly amusing.
Dam Ho’s arrival threw not only the Gold Horse Lion and the Blood Alliance Ghosts into disarray, but also the warriors of the Nine Great Sects and Five Great Clans who had assembled to form the Murim Alliance.
As everyone regarded Dam Ho with suspicious eyes, there were some who moved. They were the Blood Alliance Ghosts.
Kill him.
The Gold Horse Lion’s telepathic command set them in motion.
Whoosh!
Dozens of Iron Chain Swords came flying at Dam Ho alone. Dozens of chains crossed chaotically through the air, and wickedly sharp sickles carved at his body as if to shred it in an instant.
“Ah! Danger—”
Han So Yoo and Hae So Wol released alarmed cries simultaneously.
Whirring!
In that moment, they heard an eerie sound.
A sickening noise like thousands, tens of thousands of bees beating their wings.
At the same time, Dam Ho’s form became indistinct.
He plainly occupied the same space, yet appeared strangely blurred. Then something miraculous occurred.
Ting-ting-ting!
The Iron Chain Swords that had come flying with such terrible momentum all bounced away in every direction the instant they touched Dam Ho’s body, accompanied by fine metallic sounds.
Dozens of Iron Chain Swords, now stripped of force and sent spinning in new directions.
In an instant, Dam Ho’s hand shot out like lightning, sweeping through empty air. Suddenly dozens of Iron Chain Sword chains were clasped in his grip.
“Ugh!”
The Blood Alliance Ghosts who had hurled the chains gasped involuntarily.
Dam Ho yanked the chains with tremendous force. Suddenly, dozens of Blood Alliance Ghosts were dragged forward all at once.
Over their bodies, now unbalanced and reeling, Dam Ho unleashed a torrential barrage of fists.
Dam Ho deployed the Triple Strike Cannon Shadow Fist seven times in rapid succession.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
The Blood Alliance Ghosts exploded like firecrackers.
Those struck in the head had their heads burst open; those struck in the torso had their bodies shattered to fragments.
It was truly a terrible power too horrifying to witness even in nightmares.
In an instant, dozens of Blood Alliance Ghosts became severed remains that scattered across the ground with a dull thud.
…
Silence descended upon the hall.
Rain of blood was falling.
Dam Ho stood at its center.
Crimson droplets dripped down his black hair and pitch-black robe.
Yet his eyes alone shone with a fierce, cold light.
That sight was terrifying to behold.
People lost their voices, not even daring to breathe loudly.
In that moment, Dam Ho’s gaze turned toward the Gold Horse Lion.
The instant the Gold Horse Lion flinched, Dam Ho charged toward him.
Whoosh!
The blood clinging to Dam Ho’s body scattered in the wind, and the fierce gale sent the Gold Horse Lion’s golden robe billowing.
Without warning, Dam Ho closed the distance.
In the eyes of the Gold Horse Lion, now embedded within the golden mask, confusion flickered for the first time.
Bang!

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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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