Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 13

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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 13. Sometimes unexpected visitors arrive—1
Dam Ho opened his eyes. The sweet scent of plum blossoms drifted on the wind, yet he barely registered it.
His entire mind was focused on the massive boulder before him. The world fell away until only a small circle drawn on the rock’s surface remained visible.
“Haah!”
Dam Ho steadied his breathing. At once, the dense Gi that had been coiled in his Danjeon surged through his Hyeol Do, racing outward to his extremities.
Dam Ho’s twisted left leg drove deep into the earth. The moment his calf muscles swelled, he pushed off the ground.
Whoosh!
Like an arrow released from a bowstring, Dam Ho’s body shot forward in a single fluid line.
It was the Chung Bo—a charging footwork that moved in a straight line like a battering ram breaching a city gate.
The massive boulder seemed to collapse the distance, appearing in an instant. Dam Ho’s fist lashed out toward it like a whip.
The Pa Seong Chui.
A punch technique born from the Chung Bo. A single blow capable of shattering fortress walls.
Crack!
With a low splitting sound, Dam Ho’s fist buried itself wrist-deep into the boulder. Fragments crumbled like tofu, cascading downward.
Dam Ho withdrew his fist from the rock.
His knuckles—shattered and covered with scars and calluses—bore the marks of a year’s labor and countless tears.
“At last…”
A complex emotion crossed Dam Ho’s face.
This was the moment when a year of effort and tears finally bore fruit.
Then a familiar voice called out.
“You’ve endured much hardship.”
“Master.”
It was Hyeon So. His face too bore the light of emotion, matching Dam Ho’s own.
Hyeon So had watched Dam Ho’s efforts unfold over the past year. No one understood better than he how much blood and sweat the boy had poured into this moment.
To others, three zhang might seem a trivial distance, but for Dam Ho, it had been an impossibly wide gulf—as vast and impassable as the Yangtze cutting across the Central Plains.
Day after day, he had fallen and tumbled countless times while mastering the Chung Bo. His left leg had grown strong enough to withstand the technique, and his fists had hardened enough to pierce stone.
Hyeon So patted Dam Ho’s shoulder.
“Yet do not grow arrogant. You have merely caught up to where everyone else stands.”
“I understand. That alone is enough.”
Dam Ho had clawed his way up from the bottom depths to reach this same level as the others. Even that was sufficient.
His will had only grown sharper, his patience more resilient.
Time still stretched before him in abundance, and he was ready to sprint with all his strength through every moment of it.
‘I will never be trampled helplessly like that again.’
Dam Ho’s jaw tightened. A killing intent rippled across his gaze.
Hyeon So let out a quiet sigh.
‘Ho’s killing intent only grows stronger with time.’
He wondered if he was creating a monster.
But Hyeon So shook his head. Dam Ho was his only disciple. This was what he had done for him.
To regret now would be to deny both his choice and his efforts entirely. At the very least, he did not wish to harbor regrets concerning his own disciple.
Four seasons had passed without a single visitor approaching this place. Not the elders, nor even the Il Dae Je Ja.
They might have come out of curiosity about Dam Ho’s injuries, yet not one had set foot here. Though they surely had their reasons, Hyeon So bore a wound in his heart.
‘Dam Ho is not a boy worthless enough to be treated as though he does not exist. This child will surely become a treasure of the Hwasan Sect.’
Hyeon So was certain of it.
The blood and sweat Dam Ho had shed held nothing false. Hyeon So, who had watched from closest by, knew this truth better than anyone.
Hyeon So’s gaze turned toward Undae Peak, where the Jinmu Gung stood. It was where the Jinmu Gung Master Hyeon Gyeom made his residence.
Recently, Hyeon Gyeom had entered closed cultivation once more. This time, he had not gone alone. He had entered seclusion with a newly acquired disciple.
The name of the disciple he had newly taken was Myeong Gyeong—surprisingly, someone of Sok Ga Je Ja origin.
Hyeon Gyeom had not found a talent to his liking among the Il Dae Je Ja or the I Dae Je Ja. In the end, he had selected a promising youth from among the Sok Ga Je Ja training at the main compound and accepted him as his disciple.
Few within the Hwasan Sect knew Myeong Gyeong’s background. He had been such an unnoticed existence.
No one knew what Hyeon Gyeom had perceived in Myeong Gyeong to accept him as a disciple, but naturally, great expectations fell upon the boy who had become Hyeon Gyeom’s student.
How long the closed cultivation would last remained uncertain. Hyeon Gyeom had declared that he would not emerge until “Myeong Gyeong achieves satisfactory progress.”
‘Senior Hyeon Gyeom, I pray that the Myeong Gyeong you have taken will prove to be the talent capable of revitalizing Hwasan.’
At first, he had harbored anger at Myeong Gyeong’s very existence. Merely because he had become Hyeon Gyeom’s disciple. But as time passed, much of that resentment had faded.
He disliked Hyeon Gyeom, but there was no reason to hate Myeong Gyeong as well. His only wish was that Myeong Gyeong would flourish and become a sturdy pillar supporting the Hwasan Sect.
Hyeon So smiled down at Dam Ho.
“You have worked hard mastering the Chung Bo in this cramped place. Let us take some air. The plum blossoms are in full bloom throughout Hwasan—the sight is quite lovely.”
“Yes, Master.”
Dam Ho bowed respectfully.
Hyeon So stepped forward first, and Dam Ho followed behind.
While devoted to his Mugong, he had not noticed the plum blossoms blooming throughout Hwasan. The sight of blossoms appearing between the sharp rocky ridges held a beauty beyond words.
Not long ago, Hwasan had been buried beneath snow. All things held their breath, intent on concealing themselves. But with spring’s arrival, the mountain revealed itself anew, scattering its presence across heaven and earth.
Hyeon So felt something stir within him and spoke softly to himself.
“Heaven and earth between them are like a furnace—empty yet never depleted, and the more they move, the more they yield. It mirrors the principle of all things, so why should I search for the Way within scripture when the Way is here?”
Hyeon So stood motionless, gazing at Hwasan ablaze with plum blossoms. Dam Ho watched his master in silence.
Wind swept through, and plum blossoms scattered.
***
Dam Ho withdrew the Scripture Book from his robes. It was the one Hyeon So had given him. The yellowed cover had grown worn and tattered from how often he’d handled it over these months.
As he opened it, the carefully organized notes appeared before him. Upon the foundation his master had built, Dam Ho’s own insights had accumulated.
‘Still far to go.’
He had only just managed to deploy Chung Bo and Pa Seong Chui properly. To achieve the true power he’d originally envisioned, there remained a great distance.
Hyeol Cheon Gak was still distant, and the other techniques—he’d only grasped their forms. In reality, he couldn’t deploy them.
Unfinished work, unnamed even now, with no knowing when it would be complete.
Dam Ho recorded the insights he’d gained that day in the worn Scripture Book and tucked it into his robes.
The sunlight was fine. Dam Ho lay back on the wooden bench and gazed at the sky.
Drifting clouds drifted past. He stared at them absently.
Hyeon So had not emerged from his room since his walk earlier that day, when he’d apparently gained some profound understanding.
Dam Ho did not disturb him. Instinctively, he sensed this was a moment of great importance for Hyeon So.
If a martial artist elevated their achievements through constant practice, a Daoist elevated their Do Ryeok through enlightenment. Dam Ho suspected that Hyeon So was undergoing such a process now.
Dam Ho was waiting for Hyeon So to open the door of his own accord when he suddenly felt a presence beyond the thicket.
Dam Ho removed his arm pillow and rose quickly from the bench. A chill flickered in his eyes as he peered beyond the vegetation.
In that instant, someone emerged from the thicket.
It was a young Daoist, appearing to be barely fourteen or fifteen. Dam Ho recalled his name.
“Who are you?”
It was Won Ryul, an I Dae Je Ja.
“I am Won Ryul, paying my respects to you, uncle.”
Won Ryul executed a formal salute toward Dam Ho with obvious reluctance. There was no hint of reverence in his face.
“What brings you here?”
“The Jang Moon In has ordered me to bring you to him with urgency.”
Dam Ho’s brow twitched slightly.
The Jang Moon In had sent no word in the past year. That he should now suddenly seek out his master struck Dam Ho as peculiar.
“Wait here.”
“But the Jang Moon In said to bring you urgently.”
“Wait here.”
“Uncle! The Jang Moon In said—”
“I said wait.”
Dam Ho’s voice dropped to a cutting edge.
In that instant, Won Ryul felt his chest convulse, and panic seized him.
‘What?’
Though an I Dae Je Ja, he was nonetheless a martial artist who had trained in Mugong. His cultivation was enough that he should not be shaken by mere words from another. Yet that was precisely what had happened.
Won Ryul furrowed his brow deeply at Dam Ho, and their eyes met. At once, Won Ryul turned his gaze away.
There was something unsettling about Dam Ho’s sharp, settled gaze. He dared not meet it directly.
Won Ryul clamped his mouth shut and stared at the ground. It was humiliating, but there was nothing he could do.
Time passed. Though impatience gnawed at him, Won Ryul could not bring himself to speak. He had already been suppressed by Dam Ho’s presence.
A question suddenly occurred to him.
‘But wasn’t it said that uncle had become Pyein?’
The Il Dae Je Ja had tried to keep quiet about what happened at Jinmu Gung, but there were too many witnesses. Eventually, all disciples of the Hwasan Sect came to know that Dam Ho had become Pyein.
Won Ryul had understood it the same way. Yet nowhere in Dam Ho’s current appearance could he detect any sign of Pyein.
“U-uncle?”
Won Ryul gathered his courage to ask a question.
“Who has come outside?”
Hyeon So opened his door and stepped out.
In that brief moment, Hyeon So’s gaze had grown even deeper. Dam Ho caught the change instantly.
“I Dae Je Ja Won Ryul pays his respects to you, uncle.”
“What brings you to this place?”
“The Jang Moon In has ordered me to bring you to him.”
“The Jang Moon In?”
A furrow deepened between Hyeon So’s brows.
“For what reason does the Jang Moon In seek me out?”
“I do not know the reason. I was only ordered to bring you.”
“Hmm.”
Questions had crossed his mind, but he didn’t dwell on them.
It was no one less than the Jang Moon In of the Hwasan Sect calling him. As a disciple of Hwasan, he couldn’t very well defy the Jang Moon In’s command.
“I’ll go now.”
“Allow me to escort you.”
Dam Ho approached Hyeon So. Hyeon So nodded silently in assent.
The three of them—with Won Ryul leading—departed from their quarters.
It was his first venture outside in nearly a year. Though Hyeon So had spent his entire life on Hwasan, the familiar landscape felt oddly unfamiliar to him today.
They passed through Chang Ryong Ryeong, a ridge sharp as a dragon’s spine, and arrived at Oyun Peak. It had been five years since he’d last seen it, yet nothing appeared to have changed. And yet, as Hyeon So gazed about him, his heart felt oddly unsettled.
‘Infinite Buddha! The world remains as it was—only my own heart has transformed.’
Hyeon So released a quiet sigh.
As Yeonhwa Peak drew near, Chui Un Gung came into view. And at the entrance stood a figure.
Dam Ho’s expression tightened slightly.
“Brother?”
“Cheon Gyeong?”
The one who looked upon Dam Ho with surprise was a person Dam Ho knew well.

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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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