Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 151

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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 150. There Exists a Pain Greater Than Death—4
“Gasp—gasp!”
Ragged breaths escaped between Muk Il Gwang’s lips.
His entire body was drenched in blood, and a dozen warriors lay sprawled at his feet.
The Hyeol Cheon Bu Beop that Muk Il Gwang deployed with his twin axes was truly terrifying. The powerful Axe Energy cleaved the charging warriors in two with a single stroke.
As his assailants fell one after another, Yu Gwang Cheon, the master of Deungryongdae, changed tactics. Instead of meeting him head-on, he attacked from the periphery—jab and retreat, jab and retreat.
His strategy was to drag the battle into a war of attrition, bleeding away Muk Il Gwang’s strength. Meanwhile, he sent more warriors toward Hwang Hye Ryeong.
Muk Il Gwang had even spurned the position of master of Deungryongdae to remain at Hwang Hye Ryeong’s side. It spoke volumes about how dearly he cherished her.
‘If I touch Hwang Hye Ryeong, his focus will scatter.’
Yu Gwang Cheon’s stratagem succeeded.
As more warriors pressed in, Hwang Hye Ryeong’s limbs grew clumsy and sluggish. When Muk Il Gwang caught sight of her peril, his face twisted with urgency.
His mind screamed at him to stay composed, yet his heart would not obey.
It hammered in his chest, and his every sense converged upon Hwang Hye Ryeong. His concentration shattered inevitably.
Yu Gwang Cheon did not miss that opening.
Slash!
“Ugh!”
Yu Gwang Cheon’s sword grazed across Muk Il Gwang’s forearm. Blood sprayed as a long wound opened.
Mercifully, the bone remained intact, but the torn muscle robbed the arm holding the axe of its strength.
“Excellent!”
Yu Gwang Cheon laughed aloud.
The full power of Muk Il Gwang’s Hyeol Cheon Bu Beop depended on wielding both axes in concert. Deprived of both, the technique’s might would diminish drastically.
“Die!”
A Deungryongdae warrior seized the moment and charged at Muk Il Gwang.
“Haaah!”
Yet Muk Il Gwang was a veteran of countless battles. He met the assault with a fierce shout and a counterattack.
Crash!
“Damn it!”
The warrior whose sword was blocked by Muk Il Gwang’s axe spat a curse. Yet his expression was not as grim as one might expect.
Until moments ago, Muk Il Gwang’s strikes had shattered whatever they touched—swords split, shields gave way, bones snapped. Everything fell before him.
Yet now, that same catastrophic axe blow had been stopped without the slightest damage to the weapon. Muk Il Gwang’s power had plainly waned.
“He’s spent! Press harder!”
Yu Gwang Cheon urged his men forward.
The warriors redoubled their assault on Muk Il Gwang.
“Grrr!”
Muk Il Gwang ground his teeth until he thought they might crack.
His heart burned with the desire to devour Yu Gwang Cheon whole, but reality was far crueler.
Yu Gwang Cheon was tormenting him with subtle precision.
‘Miss!’
Hwang Hye Ryeong was fighting for her life.
Her body too was painted with blood.
Their eyes met across the chaos. Muk Il Gwang saw her clenched jaw, her face contorted with effort.
In that instant, something erupted from the depths of his chest—a force that surged up from his core, poured through his arms, and burst forth from his axes.
“Ahhhhh!”
A terrible wave of Axe Energy erupted. Incomparably more powerful than before, it tore through three charging warriors and their weapons alike, sundering them completely.
The path cleared.
Muk Il Gwang hurled himself forward without hesitation.
Yu Gwang Cheon’s blade swept across his back. The wound was severe—muscle split, bone laid bare.
Agony seized him and his mouth fell open, but Muk Il Gwang bore the pain and drove toward Hwang Hye Ryeong.
Slash!
In that instant, Yu Gwang Cheon’s sword found his leg.
Muk Il Gwang’s massive frame stumbled and crashed to the ground. He rose again with effort, but the wound was too severe; walking seemed impossible.
Yu Gwang Cheon smiled coldly as he watched.
“Did you think you could escape so easily? Hah!”
“Gwang… Cheon.”
Blood vessels bulged in Muk Il Gwang’s eyes.
Bang Jin Bo had come the day before, bearing Dam Ho’s warning and urging caution.
Muk Il Gwang had acknowledged it. Yet he never imagined Jo Yun San would dare make his move so boldly within Paewang Fortress itself.
‘My failure. I should have been more careful, more vigilant.’
Meanwhile, the assault on Hwang Hye Ryeong intensified.
She held her ground with desperate resolve, yet even that was approaching its breaking point.
“Stop resisting. There’s no point.”
“The harder you struggle, the worse it gets for you alone.”
“We don’t want this either.”
Conflict flickered in the eyes of the warriors attacking Hwang Hye Ryeong.
Not long ago, they had all cherished her deeply. Now circumstances had shifted, forcing them to raise their blades against her, and they couldn’t shake the unease it bred.
If she had simply died cleanly, they wouldn’t be drowning in guilt like this. But Hwang Hye Ryeong clung to life with desperate fury, refusing to yield. Her body bore the mounting proof of her defiance.
Hwang Hye Ryeong bit her lip.
The rage was suffocating.
Her own powerlessness made her feel pitiful.
Clang!
The sword in her hand was knocked away by an opponent’s weapon, spinning off into the air. Defenseless, her chest became the target for a warrior’s fist.
Thud!
“Aagh!”
The sensation against her chest tore a cry from Hwang Hye Ryeong. Shame rushed through her, sharper than the pain.
“Heh heh. How soft.”
The warrior who had struck her breast laughed lewdly.
It was no accident—he had aimed for her chest deliberately.
He had always been known for his vicious character. When Hwang Gyeong Moon still lived, he would never have dared harbor such appetites; but now that circumstances had changed, his true nature was showing itself.
Hwang Hye Ryeong was among the most beautiful women in Nok Rim. Her flushed face, burning with shame, took on an almost provocative glow.
Emboldened by his behavior, several other warriors began to join in, their mockery intensifying.
Some tried to stop them, but the mood had already taken hold. It was too late.
“Young lady!”
Muk Il Gwang’s anguished cry rang out across the arena.
The despair and yearning woven into his voice cut through the air with terrible clarity.
‘Il Gwang!’
Tears spilled down Hwang Hye Ryeong’s cheeks.
One of the attacking warriors drew his blade across her shoulder in a shallow cut.
Rip!
Her robe tore open, revealing pale skin beneath. A thin line of red appeared before blood began to flow freely.
The momentum had already turned.
Hwang Hye Ryeong no longer had the strength to fight. The warriors’ plan was to wear her down through humiliation until she surrendered of her own will.
Wang Jik, the oldest among those attacking Hwang Hye Ryeong, began to speak loud and crude.
“That woman, I could swallow her whole and not taste a thing. Gah—”
Wang Jik couldn’t finish. Couldn’t, because—
Someone had seized him by the back of the neck.
Gasp, gasp!
His air was cut off.
Like a weed being torn from earth, Wang Jik’s feet lifted clean off the ground.
Below his neck, sensation vanished—as though he’d been struck at a vital Pressure Point.
Behind him, he felt someone’s breath.
A nameless terror flooded through him.
‘What—what is this?’
Then a voice reached his ears, quiet and final.
“The mouth is the source of all calamity.”
Shiver!
The moment Wang Jik heard that voice, his eyes snapped shut of their own accord. His instincts recognized terror before his mind could even process it.
His hair stood on end, his teeth chattered. The chill racing down his spine refused to subside.
……
Silence fell across the arena.
Every warrior who had been taunting Hwang Hye Ryeong froze in place.
“When—when did he—?”
Disbelief blazed across their faces.
At some point, a man dressed entirely in black had appeared in their midst. In his hand, he held Wang Jik’s nape.
Wang Jik hung limp, like a branch stripped bare.
“Brother?”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s eyes widened.
The man reflected in her dark pupils was Dam Ho. Tears welled up immediately in her eyes.
In that moment, Dam Ho twisted Wang Jik’s neck sharply.
Crack!
Choke—
With Wang Jik’s final scream, his head snapped sideways.
He died instantly, his tongue lolling from his mouth.
Dam Ho tossed the corpse aside without a glance, as though discarding refuse.
The martial artists felt their chests tighten.
From the moment Dam Ho appeared, even the air seemed to cease its motion—no breeze stirred. Every spine was slick with sweat.
Dam Ho turned his gaze toward Hwang Hye Ryeong.
The instant he beheld her broken form, his eyes began to flicker with something—a tremor of light where before there had been none.
A sharp intake of breath.
The martial artists caught sight of that gaze and found themselves gasping without meaning to.
Dam Ho spoke to Hwang Hye Ryeong.
“Come here.”
“Brother.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong stepped toward him.
The martial artists who had been tormenting her until now dared not even attempt to bar her way.
From the moment Dam Ho appeared, their bodies had turned to stone.
‘Move. Please, move.’
‘Damn it.’
Their spines grew slick with cold sweat.
To move was to die.
Certainly, inevitably, to die.
From the instant Dam Ho arrived, their instincts had been screaming it.
He was a force beyond resistance. Yet neither could they simply stand still and surrender their lives. They drew up their Internal Energy, fighting desperately against the sheer weight of his presence.
In that time, Hwang Hye Ryeong reached him.
Her face was smeared with blood and tears. Dam Ho reached out and gently wiped away the tears that clung to her eyes.
A strangled sob.
Her shoulders began to tremble.
The moment she saw him, something within her broke, and the tears would not stop.
The danger surrounding her and Paewang Fortress remained unchanged. Yet the instant she saw Dam Ho, an inexplicable sense of safety flooded through her like an incoming tide.
Dam Ho patted her back with those enormous hands.
“It will be all right.”
Her crying grew louder.
There was such certainty in his words—a force that made them feel as though they would surely come to pass. Listening to him, she felt that inexplicable reassurance settle over her like a blanket.
No one else gave such absolute conviction as Dam Ho did. Hwang Hye Ryeong wept, letting that certainty wash over her endlessly.
Dam Ho turned away from her tears and began to walk.
His distinctive, syncopated gait sent a chill of dread through the watching martial artists.
“D-damn it!”
Yu Gwang Cheon’s face twisted into something savage.
Dam Ho was walking toward him. His subordinates, seized with terror, stumbled backward.
The wave of dread that rolled toward them terrified not only the underlings but Yu Gwang Cheon himself.
“What—what is this? Are you even human?”
He tried to keep his voice steady, but it quavered despite his efforts. Yet Yu Gwang Cheon himself did not notice.
Dam Ho’s expressionless gaze swept across Yu Gwang Cheon and the martial artists. Those who met that look shuddered involuntarily.
Then Dam Ho opened his mouth.
“You would do well to take your own lives.”
“What—what did you say?”
“From now on, you will learn how exquisite suffering can be simply to remain alive.”
Yu Gwang Cheon felt the world spin away from him as those toneless, emotionless words fell upon his ears.
Had anyone other than Dam Ho spoken such words, Yu Gwang Cheon would have laughed them off as mad. But hearing them from Dam Ho’s lips, the world before his eyes turned to darkness.
It was as though death itself was issuing a verdict. Yet he could not bring himself to end his own life.
Yu Gwang Cheon screamed with desperate urgency.
“Attack him! If we don’t kill him, he’ll kill us!”
“Aaahhhhh!”
The martial artists howled and rushed toward Dam Ho.
Desperation was written plainly across every face.
If they did not kill Dam Ho, no future awaited them. They had to kill him—there was no other choice.
They surged forward without hesitation, throwing all caution aside.
In Dam Ho’s black pupils, the tide of martial artists reflected like a wave of the sea.
“Right. Words won’t make you understand.”

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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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