Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 129

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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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Chapter 128. Calamity arrives without warning—3
Crack!
With a sharp sound, Namgoong Soo’s head snapped to the side. His cheek, struck by an open palm, swelled within moments.
Namgoong Soo clenched his teeth, staring at the man who had slapped him.
“Uncle! How could you?”
“Do you understand what you’ve just done?”
The man radiating fury at Namgoong Soo was none other than Namgoong Chang himself.
“Uncle?”
“Did I not tell you only to ascertain her whereabouts? Who gave you permission to attack?”
Before Namgoong Chang’s angry gaze, Namgoong Soo’s shoulders shrank. Yet his eyes held not a trace of remorse.
“She resisted me. I had no choice.”
“You?”
“Then what should I have done? Should I have let her kill me with her attack?”
Namgoong Soo raised his voice. Namgoong Chang’s brow furrowed as he glared at him. Namgoong Soo met his gaze without backing down.
Seeing no hint of reflection in his nephew’s defiant eyes, Namgoong Chang finally exhaled a long breath.
“This—because of you alone, the Namgoong Clan may face a crisis like a burning siege.”
“What do you mean? The Namgoong Clan, with centuries of history and accumulated power, facing a crisis over mere bandits?”
Namgoong Soo could not fathom his uncle’s concerns.
‘Uncle’s spirit broke that day. He’s not the man he used to be.’
Ever since the day his own right arm was shattered and the Gold Sword Unit was slaughtered, his uncle Namgoong Chang had changed.
He had grown passive, cautious. Gone was the man who once spoke of ambitious schemes. That disappointment was why Namgoong Soo had defied his uncle’s orders and acted on his own initiative.
Namgoong Chang rebuked him.
“This matter involves Hwang Hye Ryeong—no one else. If word spreads, do you think Hwang Gyeong Moon will sit idle? Akyang will become a battlefield.”
“They are merely a band of thieves at best. How could they rival the power of a noble house spanning centuries?”
“That ‘mere band’ numbers in the tens of thousands. Even ants can kill an elephant if they swarm in such numbers.”
“We have the Murim Alliance.”
“The Murim Alliance must keep the Demonic Cult in check.”
“The Murim Alliance’s strength is more than sufficient. They can easily handle the bandits.”
“You?”
Namgoong Chang’s eyes wavered.
A demon of the heart had taken root in his nephew’s otherwise keen mind. Though Namgoong Soo had always been prone to willfulness, never to this extent.
Namgoong Chang closed his eyes tightly.
‘What’s done is done. There’s no undoing it now.’
A decision had to be made.
In those brief moments, countless possibilities flickered through his mind.
Then he opened his eyes, jaw clenched.
“Request the Murim Alliance to deploy Heaven’s Net Formation.”
“Uncle!”
“You must capture Hwang Hye Ryeong. Only then can we negotiate with Hwang Gyeong Moon.”
“I will see it done.”
“If you defy my orders again, I will ensure you face severe punishment—regardless of whose son you are.”
“Fear not. I will not disappoint you.”
Namgoong Soo answered with confidence.
A smile spread across his face. But Namgoong Chang, watching him, remained unconvinced.
An uneasy feeling gnawed at him.
It was not merely Namgoong Soo’s willfulness. From somewhere deep in his chest, a nameless foreboding crept upward like smoke.
‘Why, exactly?’
Even after Namgoong Soo left, Namgoong Chang’s expression remained tightly drawn.
A long sigh escaped Hwang Hye Ryeong’s lips.
Muk Il Gwang regarded her with sorrowful eyes. Her entire body bore a dozen or more small wounds.
It was only because Muk Il Gwang had shielded her with everything he had that the damage was so limited. His own frame, having borne the brunt of the fighting, was covered in cuts both large and small.
Only his powerful body and formidable internal energy allowed him to endure wounds that would have rendered most others immobilized.
The small hut where they now sheltered stood in the Slums on the outskirts of Akyang. Like the hovels where the destitute gathered, the neighborhood reeked—filth overflowed into the streets, and the stench clung to everything.
Rats and insects swarmed the alleys, and vicious criminals prowled freely, so ordinary people never ventured there.
Someone opened the door to the hut and stepped inside.

“Sister.”
The one who entered the small hut was none other than Eun So Cheong.
“So Cheong.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s face brightened.
The small hut was a secret safe house that Eun So Cheong had painstakingly arranged.
A day prior, Hwang Hye Ryeong and Muk Il Gwang had barely managed to make contact with Eun So Cheong. After hiding them here, she had slipped away to scout the situation within Akyang.
“How stands it?”
“It’s not good.”
“How bad?”
“Heaven’s Net Formation has been deployed.”
A sharp intake of breath escaped between Hwang Hye Ryeong’s lips.
Her breath came in a stifled hiss.
“At first only the Five Great Clans were mobilized, but now the Nine Great Sects have joined them. It’s as though the entire Murim Alliance is in motion.”
Eun So Cheong’s expression as she spoke was grave.
She had thrown herself into the effort to spirit Hwang Hye Ryeong away from Akyang.
It would have been ideal to leverage the Eun Family’s influence, but it was impossible—the Eun Family itself was part of the Murim Alliance.
One careless move and the Eun Family could face calamity, which meant Eun So Cheong could not act openly. She had to work in shadow.
“One thing is certain: the longer Sister remains here, the worse your position becomes. It’s only a matter of time before this place is found.”
“How did they even discover my movements?”
“Someone tipped off the Namgoong Clan, apparently.”
“A tip?”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s brow furrowed.
“Have you identified the informant?”
“I haven’t managed to uncover that much yet.”
A soft grunt escaped her.
“We need to leave this place at once.”
“But how?”
“I’ve arranged a carriage on the outskirts of Akyang.”
“A carriage?”
“Ha O Moon prepared it, so you can trust it.”
“Thank you. You’ve borne no small burden for this.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong took Eun So Cheong’s hand.
The whole world had turned against her, yet this young sister had never once betrayed their bond. Hwang Hye Ryeong could not help but feel moved.
“Don’t thank me yet. If we can’t escape this place, the carriage won’t do us any good.”
“Right.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong nodded grimly.
“Miss!”
Jong Ri Soo, who had been standing watch outside, burst in urgently.
“What is it?”
“The Murim Alliance’s martial artists have begun searching the Slums. It’s only a matter of time before this place is exposed. We must leave at once.”
Jong Ri Soo’s face was etched with desperation.
Like a net being dragged across the floor, the enemies’ encirclement was closing in. Even as they spoke, their pursuers drew nearer.
Hwang Hye Ryeong looked at Eun So Cheong.
“Go. Now.”
“But—”
“If they discover any connection between us, the Eun Family won’t escape the consequences. Go.”
“Sister!”
“I’ll be fine. You’ve done more than enough.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong steadied Eun So Cheong’s shoulders.
Eun So Cheong’s shoulders trembled. She was frustrated by her own powerlessness, grieved that she could help no further.
“We’ll meet again.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong and Muk Il Gwang left first—to ease the burden on Eun So Cheong.
Eun So Cheong watched the door close behind them, her expression vacant. Then Jong Ri Soo urged her onward.
“Miss, you must go now.”
“Right.”
At last, Eun So Cheong slipped out of the small hut with Jong Ri Soo.
Not long after they departed, the Murim Alliance’s pursuit team breached the hut.
“It seems the rats have already fled.”
A young man in his late twenties at the head of the pursuit team spoke.
“Cowardly creatures.”
Namgoong Soo, leading the pursuit unit, clenched his teeth hard.
The Slums were a place he never wished to return to—filthy beyond measure. For someone who ordinarily prided himself on cleanliness, it was nothing short of a nightmare.
He’d shuddered countless times on the way here, repulsed by the stench and refuse.
“When I catch her, I won’t let her live. A Green Forest Bandit dares to come to the heart of the Murim Alliance and wreak havoc?”
To Namgoong Soo, who had always regarded the Green Forest Bandits as vermin, Hwang Hye Ryeong was the very embodiment of hatred. After all, because of her, he was soiling his clothes in the worst of conditions.
It was at that very moment, as Namgoong Soo burned with fury.
“They’re here. Those dogs are here.”
Suddenly the entire Slums erupted into chaos. Hwang Hye Ryeong and Muk Il Gwang’s location had been exposed.
Namgoong Soo’s expression shifted.
“Pursue them at once.”
He hurried the pursuit unit toward the source of the disturbance.
His breath caught sharply.
His face twisted.
The Slums lay devastated before him. The crude hovels woven together from branches had been reduced to rubble, and corpses lay scattered everywhere.
Every corpse belonged to a pursuit team sent by the Murim Alliance. Most of them were people Namgoong Soo recognized.
“Ho-cheong, Mun-il….”
Though the Murim Alliance hadn’t officially been established yet, these were people who had gathered under its name and shared drinks with him on several occasions.
It had been only days since they’d last shared a meal together, and now they lay cold on the ground, their bodies drained of life.
These were not men who deserved to die like this.
Namgoong Soo’s jaw muscles twitched. Rage was already consuming him.
“I’ll kill them.”
His grip tightened around his sword.
A scream pierced the air nearby.
The cry echoed through the streets.
“This way.”
Namgoong Soo and his unit rounded the corner into an open square, where they saw Hwang Hye Ryeong and Muk Il Gwang locked in fierce combat with the Murim Alliance martial artists.
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s movements were impressive in their fluidity, but what truly dominated the field was Muk Il Gwang.
Wielding two massive axes with perfect control, he butchered the Alliance fighters like a human slaughterer, leaving only carnage in his wake.
Thick blood dripped from the great axes. Most of it belonged to the Alliance martial artists, but Muk Il Gwang’s own blood was mixed among it.
His breath came ragged.
Breath escaped harshly through his clenched teeth.
He’d tried to slip away, but the Murim Alliance fighters had caught him in their net. This was the result.
He’d already felled dozens of enemies, yet they kept pouring toward him like ants streaming from a disturbed nest—endless, relentless.
“Kill him,” Namgoong Soo commanded.
He issued the order to the fighters in his pursuit unit.
“Charge!”
“He’s tiring.”
The pursuit unit surged forward in a unified assault against Muk Il Gwang and Hwang Hye Ryeong.
In that instant, Muk Il Gwang drew upon the depths of his internal energy and swung his axes in a sweeping arc across both directions.
A deafening whoosh filled the air.
A powerful wave of axe energy erupted, sweeping across all sides.
It was a form of the Blood Moon Piercing Kill. The technique’s power was devastating, but so was the drain on his energy—yet now was no time to calculate the cost.
Agonized screams tore from the fighters’ throats.
Choking cries filled the square.
In an instant, a dozen martial artists were cleaved in two, their bodies crumpling to the ground.
Separated torsos and legs, entrails spilling from the severed halves, blood pooling on the earth, and the groans of the dying.
Hell itself held no more horror. Yet the face of the man who had opened those gates—Muk Il Gwang—was ashen, drained of color. The staggering expenditure of energy had pushed him into a state of momentary exhaustion.
As his massive frame swayed, a figure approached silently from behind.
“Il Gwang!”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s sharp cry pierced the air when she saw the figure. Muk Il Gwang turned desperately to look back.
A sickening thrust.
Sudden, searing pain erupted in his side. The figure who had crept close had driven a dagger into his flesh.
A strangled cry escaped him.
Muk Il Gwang staggered and swung his axe toward the dark shadow. But the assassin had already retreated behind him.
A low chuckle sounded.
The figure who had struck was none other than Namgoong Soo.

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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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