Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 135

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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 134. Blood Runs Deeper Than Water—3
Yun Chang Hwa was a martial artist from the Jeomchang Sect.
Though he was a talented prospect even within the Jeomchang Sect, his position as a collateral rather than direct disciple imposed strict limits on his advancement within the school.
He burned with desire to master martial arts and yearned for higher status, but the Jeomchang Sect offered neither in measure.
So when word came that the Murim Alliance was being founded, he was nearly beside himself with joy. Where the Jeomchang Sect had ceilings, the Murim Alliance promised none—or so he believed.
Yun Chang Hwa petitioned Jang Moon In and was eventually dispatched to the Murim Alliance. Upon joining, he threw himself into the work with an intensity that matched no one else.
The elders took notice, and he rose to lead one of the pursuit squads.
“We must track them down at once.”
Thirty martial artists had been assigned to his unit.
More than twenty such pursuit squads were active across the region.
They were sweeping after Dam Ho’s trail like a net dragging the lake bottom, drawing the noose tighter with each passing hour.
“If they slip out of Hunan Province, they’ll be impossible to catch. We must overtake them before then.”
Yun Chang Hwa spurred his men forward.
Then a peer—Bok Woo Gyeom, his vice-commander—approached his side.
Bok Woo Gyeom was a martial artist from the Jongnam Sect and had struck an unusually close rapport with Yun Chang Hwa.
“Commander, are you certain about this?”
“About what?”
“Pursuing the Demon King. You saw it yourself—the sheer devastation of his martial prowess.”
“And?”
“Even if we’re fortunate enough to track him down successfully, if we actually encounter the Demon King, we’re as good as dead.”
“Fair point.”
“Then you still mean to pursue him?”
“Do we have a choice? When they order, we comply.”
“Hell, I should have our coffins measured in advance.”
“We find him first and send a signal. Reinforcements will come running. He’s still human, after all.”
“A human who has transcended humanity itself.”
“Even so, he’s one man. With combined force and coordinated attacks, he can be brought down.”
“But…”
“Worry accomplishes nothing. And this isn’t a decision we’re making anyway.”
Yun Chang Hwa’s tone was clipped, dismissive.
Sensing his commander’s irritation, Bok Woo Gyeom exhaled quietly. He understood.
To pursue the Demon King of the age was a crushing burden, one that fell squarely on Yun Chang Hwa’s shoulders—responsible for thirty lives.
“What about his trail?”
“That’s what troubles me.”
“What do you mean?”
“It leads toward the Yangtze River.”
“What’s strange about that? He means to escape Hunan Province by water. The river would carry him out faster.”
“That’s precisely what troubles me.”
“I still don’t follow. Taking a boat would let him slip out of the province far more quickly than going overland.”
“Perhaps. But a boat in the middle of the Yangtze leaves him trapped, with nowhere to run. Why would he choose such a position?”
“Hmm!”
“The Demon King is no fool. Far from it—he’s remarkably sharp. For him to commit such a blunder doesn’t sit right with me.”
Bok Woo Gyeom was cautious by nature and given to deep thought, so his words carried weight.
“Are you suggesting he’s deliberately luring us in?”
“It’s only suspicion on my part.”
“You have no proof, then.”
“None.”
“Then we continue the pursuit as planned. Without evidence, this is our best course.”
“Very well.”
“Understood?”
“As you say. The decision rests with you, after all.”
Bok Woo Gyeom nodded, conceding.
As vice-commander, he could voice his doubts, but the final decision belonged to Yun Chang Hwa.
Even if misgivings remained, once his commander had decided, there was nothing to do but follow.
Yun Chang Hwa’s pursuit squad advanced northward, dogging Dam Ho’s trail. How far had they gone when—
“Who on earth is that?”
A martial artist at the front, tracking Dam Ho’s traces, suddenly cried out in alarm.
“What’s happened?”
“A suspicious figure stands blocking the road ahead.”
At their men’s report, Yun Chang Hwa and Bok Woo Gyeom pushed through the crowd and rushed forward. There, blocking the center of the path, stood a man.
He was a plainly dressed middle-aged man, unremarkable in every way—the sort of rustic figure you’d overlook on any road. What caught the eye was the Pipa in his hands.
Ting-tang!
The man stood in the middle of the road, playing the Pipa with unhurried ease. The sight seemed strangely out of place.
Yun Chang Hwa stepped forward.
“We are martial artists of the Murim Alliance. Who are you, blocking the road like this?”
“My name is So Cheon San.”
The man answered with a smile, his hands still plucking at the Pipa strings.
Pleasant melodies filled the road, yet Yun Chang Hwa could not smooth the furrow from his brow.
For some reason, his chest felt unsettled.
Since learning martial arts, he had never experienced such a thing.
Yun Chang Hwa sensed something was wrong, but could not discern why.
When he glanced sideways, he noticed Bok Woo Gyeom’s eyes half-closed and glazed. Unlike himself, who leaned toward emotion, Bok Woo Gyeom prided himself on cold reason—yet here he stood, utterly entranced.
It was the first time he had ever seen that man in such a state.
Looking around, he saw that all thirty members of the pursuit squad wore the same vacant expression.
‘This is strange.’
The thought struck him like a bell.
Not just one or two—all thirty of them stood as if their spirits had been stolen.
Every last one seemed entranced by the Pipa’s music.
‘The Pipa?’
His gaze fixed on the instrument in the man’s hands.
From the Pipa flowed a melody that clouded the human mind.
The moment he recognized this, clarity returned.
“Everyone, snap out of it!”
He poured Internal Energy into his voice and bellowed.
“Ah!”
“What?”
Fortunately, it worked—Bok Woo Gyeom and the others shook off the spell.
“He’s bewitching us with that Pipa. All of you, marshal your Internal Energy and resist the sound!”
Bok Woo Gyeom and the others gasped, drawing up their Internal Energy to counter the instrument’s melody.
In that instant, a faint smile played across the face of the man who had been so leisurely plucking the strings.
“Impressive. You’ve freed yourselves from the Soul Seizing Heartbreak Song.”
The Soul Seizing Heartbreak Song was aptly named—it possessed the power to steal human hearts and minds. Those with weak Internal Energy or uncertain will often fell prey to it entirely.
Shwing!
Yun Chang Hwa drew his blade and leveled it at the man.
“Who are you? Reveal yourself. To play such wretched sorcery—”
“Did I not just tell you? My name is So Cheon San.”
The man who had introduced himself as So Cheon San spoke gently.
His voice was remarkably soothing to hear, yet Yun Chang Hwa and the pursuit squad remained unmoved by it.
They sensed instinctively that the man before them was no ordinary being.
“Who are you truly? Are you connected to the Demon King?”
“The Demon King? Ah, that young prodigy making waves in the world these days. An interesting junior, but no—I have no connection to him.”
“Then why have you blocked our path? Do you not know we are martial artists of the Murim Alliance?”
“That is precisely why I have blocked you. Because you are martial artists of the Murim Alliance.”
“What?”
“Did they not say the Murim Alliance was founded to oppose our Divine Cult?”
Yun Chang Hwa hesitated, confused by So Cheon San’s words. But in the next instant, his eyes went wide as saucers.
“Our Divine Cult? Surely you don’t mean—”
“That’s right! I come from the Divine Cult.”
The Divine Cult.
A name that Demonic Cult members used to refer to themselves. A word that ordinary martial artists would never dare speak.
“So you are a member of the Demonic Cult.”
“I said, the Divine Cult.”
“To show your face in Murim Alliance territory—you have audacity.”
Yun Chang Hwa raised his voice, infusing it with unmistakable force. Yet So Cheon San continued smiling.
“What is the Murim Alliance to me?”
“Insolence!”
“‘Insolence’ is not a word worth speaking—not for a martial artist of your caliber.”
Ting-tang!
Even as he spoke, So Cheon San did not stop playing the Pipa.
In that instant, Yun Chang Hwa cried out.
“Seize him! Take him into custody and deliver him to the Murim Alliance.”
The fact that So Cheon San needed to be pursued had long slipped from memory. The same was true for his subordinates.
“Ahhhhh!”
The pursuit squad rushed at So Cheon San in unison.
In that instant, the corners of So Cheon San’s mouth curled upward. A deep crimson gleam flickered in his eyes.
So Cheon San plucked the Pipa’s strings with force.
Clang!
A torrent of sound energy swept across the area in an instant.
Like lightning striking the earth, like a towering wave crashing against a lone boulder, the sound wave struck Yun Chang Hwa and the pursuit squad and passed through them.
“Hack!”
“Gagh!”
Those exposed to the sound wave staggered violently, then vomited blood. Shattered fragments of internal organs mixed with the blood pooling on the ground.
“How… how is this possible?”
Yun Chang Hwa and Bok Woo Gyeom’s pupils trembled.
A high-pitched ringing echoed through their minds, and the world appeared entirely red.
From a single sound wave, their vital meridians were crushed.
It was a sound technique of unimaginable, catastrophic power.
So Cheon San spoke with casual courtesy.
“The Ten-Li Annihilation Sound, as they call it. I haven’t deployed it in ages, and I’m not entirely satisfied with the performance.”
The Ten-Li Annihilation Sound.
In its truest sense, it was a devastating sound technique capable of annihilating every living creature within ten li.
So Cheon San was the sole inheritor of the Ten-Li Annihilation Sound.
Within the Demonic Cult, his epithet was “Ten-Li No Life.”
It meant that no living creature existed within ten li of him.
Thud!
Yun Chang Hwa and Bok Woo Gyeom fell to their knees.
They wanted desperately to rise. But there was no surviving when one’s vital meridians had been crushed.
Death’s shadow descended upon their faces.
So Cheon San’s lips twisted into a cold sneer.
“Why did you have to provoke us in the first place?”
“When did we ever?”
“We wanted nothing more than to live in peace, yet you provoked us. Now you must pay the price.”
“Grrk!”
“Don’t lament your misfortune. Others will follow you soon enough.”
“D-don’t… mock us. We may die here, but the Murim Alliance will surely exact vengeance. Filthy spawn of the Demonic Cult, there shall be no place for you in this land. Cough!”
Yun Chang Hwa, spewing curses, vomited a great mouthful of blood and collapsed, moving no more. He had breathed his last.
Bok Woo Gyeom followed not long after.
So Cheon San gazed down at their corpses and clicked his tongue.
“Still ignorant of the Demonic Cult’s true power. Perhaps that’s why you had the audacity to provoke us.”
So Cheon San was one of the Seven Great Demon Masters of the Demonic Cult.
When war erupted with the Orthodox Sects, he would stand in the vanguard. His emergence signified the Demonic Cult’s awakening to the world.
For decades, he had endured. And endured.
Throughout those long years, he had cultivated his strength.
Now the world would learn.
The true power of the Demonic Cult.
So Cheon San murmured to himself.
“Authority Demon… It seems a rather capable creature has emerged in Jianghu.”
The epithet he had heard most often on his journey here was Authority Demon.
A heretic martial artist from the Hua Shan Sect who had renounced his school.
For some reason, So Cheon San found him intriguing.
“Well, we’ll meet one day.”
He departed the place.
That day, those annihilated were not merely the pursuit squad led by Yun Chang Hwa.
Centered on So Cheon San, three hundred men from roughly a dozen pursuit squads within a ten-li radius all coughed blood from their meridians and perished.
Ten-Li No Life.
Not a single living creature remained within ten li.
The great upheaval of Jianghu was beginning.

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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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