Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 149

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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 149. There Are Pains Worse Than Death—2
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s quarters lay on the outskirts of Paewang Manor. By nature she preferred solitude and abhorred commotion, so she had chosen a place where few feet ever wandered.
The room where she stayed was sparse. There were no ornate furnishings, and scarcely any of the jewelry that women typically kept.
The only decoration adorning the walls was a single sword. The absence of anything else gave the space an almost desolate air.
“Sigh.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong exhaled heavily.
Her chest felt peculiarly tight.
Her gaze turned toward Hwang Gyeong Moon’s quarters.
“I wonder how the meeting is proceeding?”
It was a gathering of the stronghold masters who represented Green Forest. Unfortunately, she had no standing to attend.
Knock, knock!
Just then, someone rapped urgently at her door.
“Miss, it’s Il Gwang.”
It was Muk Il Gwang. Without waiting for her reply, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“Miss, you must leave this place at once.”
“What’s happened?”
“There’s no time to explain.”
Blood droplets were scattered across Muk Il Gwang’s entire frame.
Hwang Hye Ryeong bit her lip firmly. Her instincts, too, had grasped that something had gone terribly wrong.
She seized the sword from the wall and hurried after Muk Il Gwang.
The moment they stepped through the door.
“Il Gwang!”
Suddenly, dozens of martial artists blocked their path.
Muk Il Gwang’s eyes turned savage. His already fierce expression grew more fearsome still, yet the martial artists before him did not so much as twitch.
A man at the forefront of their ranks stepped forward. He was a figure whose build and bearing matched Muk Il Gwang’s own.
“Where do you rush off to in such haste, Il Gwang?”
“Yu Gwang Cheon! How dare you!”
Killing intent blazed in Muk Il Gwang’s eyes.
The man before him was Yu Gwang Cheon, leader of Dengrong Platoon and once Muk Il Gwang’s closest friend.
Blood dripped steadily from the sword Yu Gwang Cheon held—the mark of warriors from Dengrong Platoon he had cut down.
Not an hour before, Yu Gwang Cheon had ambushed and killed five martial artists under his own command.
All of them had been close to Muk Il Gwang, men who had long looked upon Yu Gwang Cheon with disdain.
“Do you truly expect to walk away unscathed from this, Yu Gwang Cheon?”
“The sky over Green Forest is about to change. Why should I hesitate?”
“The sky changes? Surely you don’t mean—”
“Yes! By now, it’s already happening.”
Yu Gwang Cheon’s gaze flicked toward the direction of Hwang Gyeong Moon’s quarters.
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s face drained of color.
“You’ve truly gone through with it? I could overlook such treachery from the other masters, but you—how could you?”
Dengrong Platoon was the organization Hwang Gyeong Moon had poured his heart into building for Green Forest’s future.
Hwang Hye Ryeong, of all people, understood the vast investment and effort that had gone into raising them.
She had believed that even if all others betrayed him, Dengrong Platoon never would. Because she had been certain they would never break faith, no matter what, the shock cut all the deeper.
“There are many things in this world that defy common sense. Don’t trouble yourself trying to understand.”
Yu Gwang Cheon bared his yellowed teeth in a sneer.
The warriors of Dengrong Platoon around him echoed his mockery.
Hwang Hye Ryeong could not accept what lay before her eyes. Despair crashed down upon the wound of betrayal.
“Miss, not all of Dengrong Platoon has sided with them.”
Muk Il Gwang’s steady voice steadied her wavering resolve.
His words were true.
Though Yu Gwang Cheon held the title of Dengrong Platoon master, he did not command the organization completely. He had failed to win over the loyalty of the entire platoon. A considerable number of its warriors still followed Muk Il Gwang over him.
Knowing this, Yu Gwang Cheon had struck first against those likeliest to resist, eliminating them before they could raise their banners.
“Breathe.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong drew in a long, deep breath, and when she exhaled, her eyes no longer trembled.
“Il Gwang!”
“Yes, Miss.”
“We’re going to Chamhoe Cave.”
“Not to the Grand Master?”
“Our strength would be of little use there. Better to free my brother—that will serve us far better.”
“Understood.”
Muk Il Gwang nodded firmly. Yu Gwang Cheon watched him and let out a low chuckle.
“It won’t matter.”
“What?”
“Why do you think I had the Geum Ma Gu fastened to him? All for a moment like this. He’s probably coughing blood and dead by now. Heh heh!”
“Heh heh!”
“No matter how strong his Gwon Ma is, once you’ve bound his hands and feet, poison takes care of everything.”
The warriors of Dengrong Platoon chimed in one by one.
But their taunts left no flicker in Muk Il Gwang’s gaze.
‘My brother won’t fall so easily. They know nothing about him.’
Crack!
Muk Il Gwang drew out two massive axes.
‘The longer this drags on, the worse it gets for us. I’ll seize the advantage of striking first.’
Once his resolve hardened, Muk Il Gwang moved without hesitation.
Whoosh!
Muk Il Gwang unleashed the Blood Sky Axe Method and charged toward Yu Gwang Cheon.
Tremendous Axe Energy surged toward Yu Gwang Cheon.
“Ugh!”
Yu Gwang Cheon gasped and swung his sword in defense.
Boom!
Yu Gwang Cheon’s body lurched back from the thunderous collision.
Their Martial Arts were evenly matched. But one wielded a massive axe while the other fought with a sword.
The sheer weight advantage meant the blade was bound to lose ground.
“Dare you!”
“Kill him!”
Warriors from Dengrong Platoon rushed to aid Yu Gwang Cheon, while others moved to seize Hwang Hye Ryeong.
The warriors of Dengrong Platoon knew better than anyone just how formidable Muk Il Gwang’s Martial Prowess was.
Had Muk Il Gwang remained with Dengrong Platoon, Yu Gwang Cheon would never have become its leader. That was how exceptional Muk Il Gwang’s Martial Arts were, and how many followed him.
‘I must kill him. Only then can I secure complete control of Dengrong Platoon.’
Yu Gwang Cheon clenched his teeth and pressed his assault on Muk Il Gwang.
While the two fought with all their strength, Hwang Hye Ryeong was doing her utmost to unleash her Martial Arts. But her opponent was Dengrong Platoon itself.
Among the countless warriors of Green Forest, Dengrong Platoon possessed unmatched prowess. The path through them to Dam Ho seemed impossibly distant.
‘Brother.’
Dam Ho opened his eyes.
Through the tightly barred iron grating, a familiar face appeared—the guard.
On the tray in the guard’s hand sat a cracked bowl and spoon.
“Your meal.”
The guard spoke curtly, sliding the tray between the iron bars.
Since Dam Ho had been confined in Chamhoe Cave, cold rice gruel was distributed once each day. Given that it came only once, Dam Ho had never missed a meal.
The guard expected the same today. But Dam Ho, who took the tray, merely stared at it without making any move to eat.
When Dam Ho refused the food, the guard’s voice rose sharply.
“What’s wrong with you? Eat it at once. How else am I to clear the tray?”
“Has it started?”
“What?”
The guard’s eyes went wide.
Dam Ho stood up, still holding the tray. The guard stumbled backward.
“What… what are you doing?”
He was so startled his words came out stammering.
Dam Ho held out the bowl toward him.
“Try it.”
“Madman! Why would I eat that? Stop this nonsense and just have your meal!”
“There’s no poison in it, is there?”
“P-poison?”
The guard stumbled over his words in shock. Dam Ho stared straight at him.
The look in his eyes said he knew everything. The guard flinched.
The being beyond the iron bars was the Gwon Ma.
A creature with strength as formidable as his name suggested, savage and bestial beyond measure.
The count of dead martial masters who had fallen to his hand was beyond reckoning. Should he choose, a mere brigand’s life such as his own would be no more than a candle before the wind.
The guard’s frightened gaze fell upon the Geum Ma Gu fastened around Dam Ho’s wrists and ankles. And the iron bars that stood between them.
The bars were forged from Muk Iron, renowned for its durability. Even a true master would struggle to so much as scratch them.
But thinking it through, there was no way for Dam Ho, caged behind those bars, to harm him.
The guard laughed.
“How clever of you to detect the poison. But trapped as you are, there’s nothing you can do about it. You should have simply drunk it and died peacefully. How amusing!”
“Did Jo Yoon San put you up to this?”
“Hah! And what will you do about it?”
The jailer laughed darkly and struck the cave wall with his palm. In an instant, dozens of martial artists who had been waiting on the stone path outside Chamhoe Cave rushed in.
Every one of them radiated a sinister aura—warriors drawn from the ranks of Heuksuchae and White Deer Manor.
They looked back and forth between Dam Ho, caged behind the iron bars, and the jailer.
“He’s still alive?”
“The fool noticed the poison in the drink.”
“Is that so? Tch! Too sharp by half. Well, at least that means he’ll die all the more painfully.”
The man clicking his tongue was Jwa Sin Chung, one of Jo Yoon San’s lieutenants.
Jo Yoon San had entrusted him with the crucial task of poisoning Dam Ho.
He had bribed the cave’s jailer and provided him with Blood Tear Intestinal Rupture Poison, a deadly toxin of the highest order.
Once ingested, the poison would shred the victim’s internal organs to pieces, causing death by way of weeping blood from the eyes—a horrific end from which no antidote existed. Consumption meant certain death.
Jwa Sin Chung addressed Dam Ho.
“Since it’s come to this, you’d do better to drink the poison yourself. Unless you want to die in even greater agony.”
“How exactly do you plan to kill me? I’m locked in here.”
“Do you truly believe these iron bars will protect you?”
Jwa Sin Chung raised his hand. At his signal, a dozen or so of the warriors accompanying him drew silvery cylinders from their robes. Each cylinder, roughly the length of a child’s forearm, was riddled with a dozen small holes.
Save for a single exit barely large enough for one person to squeeze through, the cave was sealed tight on all sides. Once the poisoned needles were released, there would be nowhere to escape.
The warriors turned the cylinders’ apertures toward Dam Ho.
“These are the Jeolmyeong Talhon Chim—the Dang Sect’s golden-class projectile needles. Strike one, and your flesh and bone dissolve into nothing but blood. Hah!”
The needles were finer than human hair. Once fired from the cylinders, they were invisible to the eye, making them nearly impossible to block.
Jwa Sin Chung’s smile deepened.
But Dam Ho’s gaze had gone infinitely dark and cold.
He had seen something identical to this before.
On the Yangtze River, aboard the Yunma Dagang Vessel bound for Akyang.
The object that the Seondo Escort Bureau had been transporting looked exactly like this. They had said it was cargo sent by the Dang Sect.
‘Has something the Dang Sect sent flowed its way here?’
Dam Ho did not know what power the Jeolmyeong Talhon Chim possessed, but the fact that it had been designated a golden-class weapon made it clear that its force was formidable indeed.
A single volley unleashed a dozen needles. There were more than a dozen of these cylinders. That meant over a hundred needles would rain down in a single barrage.
Inside a cave sealed on all sides, Dam Ho had nowhere left to run.
Jwa Sin Chung spoke to him with cruel mockery.
“Death by the Jeolmyeong Talhon Chim is far less merciful than death by the Blood Tear Intestinal Rupture Poison. Which will you choose?”
“The Blood Tear Intestinal Rupture Poison…”
“Good sense. At least—”
“I’ll put it in your mouth instead. Feel free to keep talking if you can.”
At those words, spoken in a voice utterly devoid of emotion, Jwa Sin Chung felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Before he could stop himself, he cried out:
“Fire! Turn him into a sieve!”
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The Jeolmyeong Talhon Chim erupted forth. Over a hundred needles cascaded down upon Dam Ho like rain.
Buzz-buzz-buzz!
In that instant, Dam Ho’s form blurred and shimmered, and the sound of ten thousand bees taking flight at once filled the cave.
The Shield—the supreme defensive martial art—had been activated.

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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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