Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 123

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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 122. The Butterfly’s Wing Flutters Forth a Storm—Part 1
Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo left the inn.
The events of the previous night had thrown Tongsan County into upheaval. People stayed indoors, and the streets were lined with Daoists from Gu Gung Mun.
At the slightest suspicion, the Daoists would seize anyone and interrogate them. The only mercy was that no one approached Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo.
Cheol Gwan had commanded the disciples of Gu Gung Mun to never approach Dam Ho under any circumstances. So they merely watched from a distance, never daring to draw near.
Bang Jin Bo shook his head at the weight of countless gazes pressing in from all sides. Following Dam Ho around had made him accustomed to it by now, but it remained burdensome all the same.
‘At this rate, won’t I become famous myself?’
Bang Jin Bo stole a glance at Dam Ho.
Dam Ho drove the Black Ghost forward in silence. His face bore no expression whatsoever.
For ordinary people, a near-collision with Gu Gung Mun would have been a monumental affair, yet it seemed trivial to Dam Ho.
‘He really is something else.’
Bang Jin Bo shook his head lightly.
Since traveling with Dam Ho, no journey had ever been smooth, yet the thought of parting ways with him was unbearable.
“Heh!”
Bang Jin Bo let out a small laugh.
Fortunately, Dam Ho seemed not to notice. He merely pressed forward in silence, driving the Black Ghost.
After riding for some time, the two of them arrived at the Official Road that led out of Tongsan County.
Nearly a hundred Daoists had gathered on the road. Those sent by Gu Gung Mun had occupied the passage leading out of the county.
They were conducting thorough inspections of anyone attempting to leave. Women in particular, regardless of age, were searched most rigorously.
As Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo approached, the Daoists’ eyes snapped toward them in unison.
One figure sat atop a black horse, dressed entirely in black—a martial artist of striking presence. The other was a plump boy shouldering an enormous bundle.
It was a combination impossible to overlook anywhere. Yet not a single Daoist from Gu Gung Mun stepped forward to intercept them.
Cheol Gwan’s command was being faithfully executed here as well.
Do not approach. Do not obstruct.
Such was Cheol Gwan’s order.
Just as Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo passed through the ranks and were about to leave Tongsan County, two Daoists came sprinting toward the checkpoint at full speed.
“We’ve found the witch!”
“The witch was spotted about ten leagues outside the county!”
At their cry, the Daoists stationed on the road rushed off in a torrent. The checkpoint emptied in moments, and thanks to this stroke of fortune, Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo departed Tongsan County without hindrance.
Bang Jin Bo asked suddenly.
“Did that woman really inflict serious wounds on the Sect Leader of Gu Gung Mun?”
“Most likely.”
“How do you know?”
“Once you’ve learned Martial Arts, you’ll understand.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
At Dam Ho’s words, Bang Jin Bo’s expression tightened. After thinking for a long while, he finally spoke again.
“I want to learn Martial Arts.”
Dam Ho turned to look at Bang Jin Bo, surprised by the unexpected statement.
Bang Jin Bo’s expression was utterly serious—a sight Dam Ho had not seen in a very long time.
“You want to learn Martial Arts?”
“Yes.”
“To become stronger?”
“No.”
Bang Jin Bo shook his head.
“Then why?”
“Because I want to save people’s lives.”
……
“If I learn Martial Arts, I can build Internal Energy, right? And if I could use that Internal Energy well, I thought maybe I could infuse food with beneficial energy. Don’t you think that could help people?”
A glimmer of interest kindled in Dam Ho’s eyes.
“Why did you think of such a thing?”
“It occurred to me suddenly. Internal Energy is truly mystical, isn’t it? It makes people strong like you, lets them transcend human limits. So I thought—if I could use that energy to create food, surely it could benefit people.”
“I see.”
“Will you teach me Martial Arts?”
“No.”
“So I’m not cut out for it after all?”
“It’s not that you can’t—it’s that I can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“My Martial Arts are for destruction. They bear no resemblance to the concept you’re imagining.”
The Dark Walking School, known throughout the world, is a fist technique only Dam Ho can master. To learn the Dark Walking School, one must possess the same Killing Intent and corrosive spirit that Dam Ho carries.
Bang Jin Bo lacked such killing intent. Ordinary people like him could study the Dark Walking School a thousand times and never master it.
“Then is it all right if I learn a different martial art?”
“Every person has a martial art suited to them. Somewhere out there, there must be one that fits you.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“If I find such a martial art, I can learn it?”
“Of course.”
Dam Ho reached out his large hand and mussed Bang Jin Bo’s hair. Bang Jin Bo broke into a pleased smile.
Dam Ho fell silent for a moment, lost in thought.
Bang Jin Bo, whom he’d happened to meet in Xinjiang and traveled with by chance, had become like his own younger brother.
Unlike himself, who had killed countless people, Bang Jin Bo thought only of making people happy through food.
Now, as Bang Jin Bo aimed beyond merely delicious meals toward food that would truly nourish the body, something in Dam Ho’s chest stirred faintly.
“I will find a martial art suited to you. I promise.”
“Thank you.”
Bang Jin Bo was genuinely overjoyed.
Dam Ho was the kind of man who always followed through. In all the time Bang Jin Bo had known him, he had never once broken a promise.
One day Dam Ho would find a martial art that fit him. He’d given his word.
Bang Jin Bo fell into daydreams of learning martial arts.
Dam Ho watched him and thought to himself.
‘Jin Bo would suit a martial art harmonizing the Five Elements.’
Such arts were not plentiful in the world. But finding one was far from impossible.
Dam Ho knew that when a person fixed their will upon a single goal, they could accomplish a great many things.
He himself was a man who had grown that way.
Having walked a difficult path first, he could offer others a safer route ahead.
That was when it happened.
Dam Ho stirred from his reverie and looked forward. A powerful scent of blood carried on the wind struck his senses sharply.
A deep crease formed between his brows. The smell was far more acrid than he’d expected.
He wanted nothing to do with it, but the problem was that the scent drifted from the direction they were heading.
“Dam Ho?”
Bang Jin Bo, detecting the metallic reek, also stirred from his thoughts.
Having traveled so long with Dam Ho, Bang Jin Bo had grown unusually sensitive to the scent of blood. Perhaps his sense of smell had developed more acutely than many masters of the martial arts.
As they walked the Official Road, the scent grew steadily stronger. Within moments, they could see the source with their own eyes.
“What is this?”
Numerous corpses lay scattered across the Official Road. They were Daoists, dressed in full robes and regalia.
“They must be Daoists of the Gu Gung Mun?”
Dam Ho nodded at Bang Jin Bo’s observation.
All had died from a single clean stroke of the sword. They likely hadn’t suffered greatly even at the moment of death.
The cuts were disturbingly neat.
Though many lay dead, Dam Ho felt little. Bang Jin Bo, however, was different.
With Dam Ho beside him, he felt safer at least, but the knowledge that a sword fight was happening nearby was enough to unsettle him.
Bang Jin Bo urged his horse forward nervously, glancing about constantly.
Dam Ho’s face remained expressionless. Whatever happened around him was no concern of his.
But the world does not always move according to one’s wishes. Before they’d traveled even ten li further, they came upon Daoists of the Gu Gung Mun clashing with a veiled woman.
“Argh!”
“Hold on just a little longer!”
The Gu Gung Mun Daoists were fighting desperately, crying out loudly. Yet the veiled woman they faced stood like an iron wall.
The veiled woman was Yum Yu Gyeong.
Though the Gu Gung Mun Daoists were throwing themselves at her relentlessly, Yum Yu Gyeong felt little true threat from their assault.
The Gu Gung Mun Daoists were certainly strong. But it was merely strength of an ordinary standard. Their blades carried no will to kill.
Against a sword lacking the desperate determination to end its opponent, her cultivation was more than sufficient.
She had been born and raised on land where the strong devoured the weak.
A hellish place where weakness was sin, where survival by one’s own strength was the only law.
Yum Yu Gyeong had been born at the very bottom of that place and clawed her way to where she stood now.
Neither her mind nor her martial skill was weak enough to fear the warriors of the Gu Gung Mun. Only the burden of knowing she had to kill them all weighed slightly upon her.
“Sorceress!”
The Zhenren Cheol Gwan roared the accusation at Yum Yu Gyeong.
Seeing the bitter resentment blazing in his eyes, Yum Yu Gyeong shook her head slightly.
She understood his anger.
But anger should never be spent so wastefully.
When facing an enemy beyond one’s measure, preserving one’s strength is itself a tactic of vengeance. A leader who lets rage cloud his vision and drives all his followers into the pit of death can never be called truly wise.
Snap!
Yum Yu Gyeong drove her foot hard into the ground.
Her body, which had soared high into the air, now plummeted downward like an arrow toward a single target—directly where Cheol Gwan stood.
“Who said anything about retreat? Hyah!”
Cheol Gwan unleashed his most devastating technique, eyes wide with fury.
Whoosh!
Sword energy erupted from his blade, fanning outward like a spray to cut off her every escape. He was anticipating her evasion and sealing it away before she could move.
Even as the sword energy flew toward her face, Yum Yu Gyeong didn’t blink.
She twisted her torso in mid-air, her entire body describing an impossible curve as it rotated.
Ping!
The blade in her hand flicked outward.
Her sword held none of the gleaming energy that his carried. Yet the moment their blades met, Cheol Gwan felt an unstoppable force crash against him.
“Witch, you…”
Slice!
Everything was severed in that instant.
The sword energy he had conjured. His chest.
Spray!
Blood misted through the air—not much, but enough to sever his vital channels and stop his breath.
Cheol Gwan’s sword hand flailed at empty space. But only for a moment; then his body crumbled like a sandcastle.
“Elder!”
The Daoists of Gu Gung Mun rushed forward like madmen, their eyes bloodshot, their chests roiling with rage.
She felt their fury. But it ended there.
Rage without power only consumes itself.
In any circumstance, the mind must remain clear, and one must know how to silence the heart’s clamor.
Whissh!
Her blade cut through the air again and again. The last of Gu Gung Mun’s Daoists who still drew breath fell silent.
It was swordplay of appalling efficiency.
Bang Jin Bo had never witnessed such terrifying sword technique in his life.
Everything about Yum Yu Gyeong was refined to its absolute limit.
From the moment she drew her blade to the breath she drew—every movement was stripped to its essence, boasting ruthless precision.
“Hnngh… Witch…”
One Daoist, still clinging to breath, fixed her with a look of terror. But even as his eyes opened, the light in them faded along with his focus.
“Sigh.”
At last Yum Yu Gyeong exhaled and sheathed her blade.
She felt two unfamiliar gazes settle upon her.
In her sight appeared two men on horseback: Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo.
“Have you come to hunt me down as well?”
The glacial chill in her voice made Bang Jin Bo flinch.
But Dam Ho simply regarded her with quiet attention.
Something in his gaze made Yum Yu Gyeong start. His eyes held a penetrating intensity, as though he could see straight through her.
Then Dam Ho’s lips parted.
“So it was you.”

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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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