Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 157

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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 156. Every Meeting Must End—Part 3
The betrayal of Yun Chung, Vice Master of Paewang Fortress, and Jo Yun San, Master of Black Water Faction, brought a massive shockwave through Nokrim.
Betrayal was no foreign word in Nokrim. It was a society where strength governed all things.
Indeed, among the Masters of Nokrim’s Eighteen Strongholds, many had seized their positions by force, casting down their predecessors.
In Nokrim, the strong possessed everything, and the brigands of Nokrim accepted this as natural law.
But when foreign powers were involved in betrayal, the matter became entirely different. And if that foreign power was the Demonic Cult—there was nothing more to say.
The Demonic Cult was despised not only in the Central Plains Martial World but in Nokrim as well. When the Demonic Cult swept through the Central Plains, thousands of Nokrim’s martial artists perished.
Many of the families of those who died then still lived in Nokrim, and countless others remembered that day with crystalline clarity.
When it became known that Yun Chung was actually a Demonic Cult disciple and had cultivated the Cult’s martial artists within Nokrim itself, the entire brigand realm rose in fury.
The Masters who had first affixed their seals to the Approval Document fell into disgrace. They protested that they had not known Yun Chung was a Demonic Cult member when they sealed the document, but no one believed them.
More than a dozen strongholds, including the Green Water Stronghold, changed their leadership. A transformation of unprecedented scope was taking place.
The world was shifting.
None felt the weight of that change more acutely than Muk Il Gwang. He threw himself into the work of rebuilding Paewang Fortress in place of Hwang Gyeong Moon, whose internal wounds had not yet healed.
Through the betrayal of Yun Chung, Black Ghost, and the Deungryongdae, Paewang Fortress had lost half its strength. The command structure that had been so formidable now lay in ruins, and the people wavered.
Had Hwang Gyeong Moon been in good health, recovery would have been far easier. But unfortunately, he still struggled to move about.
In the end, Muk Il Gwang had no choice but to step forward.
He devoted himself entirely to rebuilding Paewang Fortress. Though he had declined the position of Director of Deungryongdae because of Hwang Hye Ryeong, his standing within Paewang Fortress remained quite considerable.
Muk Il Gwang reorganized Paewang Fortress with impressive speed, and as a result, the chaos in Nokrim gradually subsided.
Dam Ho stood at the summit of Hua Shan, looking down upon Paewang Fortress.
A few days earlier, Paewang Fortress had felt unsettled and uneasy. Now it clearly radiated a sense of stability regained.
For a time, its power would be diminished, but if things continued as they were for just a few more years, it would surely recover its former glory.
That was when it happened.
“Brother.”
A familiar voice echoed in his ears.
He turned to see Hwang Hye Ryeong standing there. Her complexion was still ashen.
Since that day when she had collapsed, Hwang Hye Ryeong had shut herself away in her chamber. This was the first time he had seen her face.
“Are you well?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m glad.”
Dam Ho nodded. Hwang Hye Ryeong stared at him intently.
“Brother.”
……
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“Knew what?”
“From the moment I first saw you, something was strange. Though you were the Bloodthirsty Saint, the Demon of Authority, a slaughterer who struck terror into all who beheld you—somehow, I was never afraid.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s voice was remarkably calm. She showed no excitement, no emotion. She seemed more clear-eyed than ever before.
Dam Ho watched her in silence.
“Your eyes were the same. Meeting them for the first time, yet they felt familiar, as though I had seen them long ago. Others say they dare not even meet your gaze, so terrifying is their light. But I could. I always could.”
……
“Why? I’ve always wondered.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s eyes searched for truth. But Dam Ho was not yet ready to answer. So he could only keep silent.
“After I met you, I kept having dreams. In the dreams, I was a small child, barely able to walk.”
The dreams were always hazy.
A strange man appeared, and a boy. Sometimes a middle-aged woman with a gentle face. But their faces were never clear, and they never appeared together. So she had not thought them connected.
“My father said my mother died when I was very young. He said the shock of it kept me from remembering my childhood. I believed that… but…”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s words trailed off.
Still Dam Ho kept his silence.
“That day… the day the rebellion came to Paewang Fortress. I saw that landscape again. A man holding a bow… and beside him, a small boy. The boy’s face was…”
Hwang Hye Ryeong reached her hand toward Dam Ho’s face. He did not pull away.
She touched his face gently.
Starting from his forehead, she traced his nose, and stopped at his firmly closed lips.
“It was your face, Brother. You looked twenty years younger, but it was you. How is that possible? Why would you appear in my dreams as a child? Are those really just dreams?”
Dam Ho closed his eyes.
“Brother, please answer me. Are those truly just dreams?”
“Your name is…”
Now it was Hwang Hye Ryeong who fell silent.
Her trembling eyes fixed on his lips. She waited for his words to continue.
“Your name is Dam Ga Ryeong. Your home was a small village at the foot of Taebaek Mountain.”
At that moment, Hwang Hye Ryeong recalled words Dam Ho had once let slip in passing.
‘It was just an ordinary village. Nothing special, nothing different—just a plain, rustic place. The men worked the rice paddies, the women tended the fields, and people lived out their days as they always had.’
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s eyes trembled.
Words she had heard without thought back then now cut deep into her heart.
“Then my dream was real? My brother truly is my brother?”
“Yes.”
“It can’t be!”
In that instant, Hwang Hye Ryeong’s legs gave way.
Dam Ho caught her hand. Through their clasped hands flowed a warmth that was not unfamiliar.
That warmth felt like no stranger to her.
“Ah!”
“I’m sorry. For not telling you sooner.”
“How… how could this… sob!”
Hwang Hye Ryeong wept.
In her heart, she had perhaps suspected as much. Yet there was a world of difference between suspicion and hearing the truth spoken aloud by another’s lips.
“How did this happen? How did I become Hwang Hye Ryeong?”
“You…”
Dam Ho spoke with calm precision, laying out every fact he knew.
His account stretched long, yet Hwang Hye Ryeong listened with patient attention.
He omitted nothing—from the day the Black Tiger Group attacked the village, to his entry into Hua Shan, to the circumstances that had made her become the daughter of Hwang Gyeong Moon.
Tears streamed ceaselessly down Hwang Hye Ryeong’s cheeks, and when Dam Ho’s long narrative finally ended, her legs buckled and she sank to the ground.
Her small shoulders trembled. Without a word, Dam Ho drew her into his arms and stroked her back for a long while.
After some time had passed, Hwang Hye Ryeong wiped away her tears and drew back from his embrace.
“Brother.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. For not forgetting, for coming to find me like this.”
“I’m sorry it took so long.”
“No. I’ve lived comfortably enough as Hwang Hye Ryeong, but you endured so much for my sake. Just the fact that you came to find me is enough to be grateful for.”
“Thank you. For understanding.”
“What will you do now? Can’t you just stay here with me?”
“I’m sorry. This place is not where I belong.”
Remaining at Paewang Fortress might grant him comfort, and apart from his blood tie to Hwang Hye Ryeong, he owed the fortress a great debt.
Yet Paewang Fortress was not the place for Dam Ho.
He was not of Nokrim, nor did he have interest in a life spent plundering others’ wealth.
His existence was forged in struggle.
The rough Jianghu suited him.
Hwang Hye Ryeong looked up at Dam Ho’s face.
His face, which inspired fear in both enemies and allies alike, struck her as somehow pitiful.
“Brother.”
“Live on as Hwang Hye Ryeong. You may forget the name Dae Ga Ryeong.”
“I cannot. I will live as Hwang Hye Ryeong and as Dae Ga Ryeong. As the daughter of Hwang Gyeong Moon, Chief of All Strongholds of Nokrim, and as the sister of Demon of Authority.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s voice carried absolute conviction and resolve.
Just as Dam Ho, once he made a decision, would never reverse it, so too did Hwang Hye Ryeong refuse to waver once she had set her will.
Dam Ho reached out and gently stroked her hair.
“Very well. That is not a bad way to live. Live as you wish.”
“Brother.”
“But I ask one thing of you.”
“What is it?”
“For now, I entrust Bang Jin Bo to your care.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I would wish to keep him with me to the end, but taking him further would be too dangerous.”
Beyond the fact that he had become an enemy of the Murim Alliance, he had also incurred the wrath of the Demonic Cult. He had made enemies of the two strongest forces in the current Jianghu.
Now a harsh storm of blades would sweep across the land. In such brutal winds that cut flesh and bone, it was impossible to protect Bang Jin Bo completely.
“I understand. I will take responsibility for protecting Bang Jin Bo.”
“Thank you.”
“He’s your younger brother, after all. That makes him my blood sibling too.”
“Yes.”
Dam Ho nodded slowly.
Hwang Hye Ryeong would care for Bang Jin Bo well.
“When will you leave?”
“Now.”
“What? Already?”
“The longer we stay, the harder it will be to part. If we’re going to say goodbye anyway, I’d rather it be soon.”
“Where will you go?”
“Hua Shan.”
Dam Ho gazed toward the northern sky.
An age of chaos was opening.
In an era of war, a martial artist was no more than a mayfly—unable to guarantee even a single day ahead.
Dam Ho was no exception.
Though he had managed well enough until now, the Jianghu was a world where meeting a stronger opponent could mean death in an instant.
Before such a thing could happen, he wanted to see his master.
If he could see Hyun So, he felt there would be nothing left unsaid, no lingering regrets.
No matter what became of the world, no matter what fate befell him.
“Brother.”
“Take care of yourself.”
Dam Ho said his farewell to Hwang Hye Ryeong.
Hwang Hye Ryeong watched helplessly as Dam Ho descended the mountain. She reached out to grab him countless times, but in the end, she could not hold him back.
Twenty years was not a brief span of time.
They had walked paths too far apart to share the same road now.
She could not hold him back. All she could do was pray that he would live safely.
Dam Ho receded from Hwang Hye Ryeong’s sight.
In the distance, Black Ghost came galloping, raising clouds of dust. The beast ran across the rough slopes of Hua Shan as if they were level ground.
Dam Ho mounted Black Ghost.
“Let’s go.”
Black Ghost bolted forward as if it had been waiting for this moment.
The way it bounded over enormous boulders reminded one of mountain goats that grew only on high peaks.
“Brother.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong’s shoulders trembled intermittently.
She held back her tears with effort.
The parting was sorrowful, but she told herself that someday they would meet again, consoling herself with this thought.
That was when it happened.
“Brother!”
A familiar voice called out from behind.
Turning around, she saw Bang Jin Bo rushing toward them.
He had been caring for Black Ghost and his own white horse in the Stable Barn when Black Ghost suddenly bolted.
Following Black Ghost’s trail to the mountain’s peak, Bang Jin Bo caught sight of Dam Ho and Black Ghost growing distant.
“Wait, brother?”
Bang Jin Bo’s pupils shook.
“Surely not?”
A dark premonition washed over him, and Bang Jin Bo tried to chase after Dam Ho.
“Jin Bo.”
Hwang Hye Ryeong gripped Bang Jin Bo’s shoulder.
“Sister?”
“Your brother doesn’t want you to fall into danger anymore.”
“But——”
“You must let your brother go, Jin Bo. He wants you to stand on your own.”
“Brother——”
“Yes! It will be hard, but send him off with a smile.”
Bang Jin Bo stood frozen like a statue, staring in the direction Dam Ho had vanished.
“Is that really what Brother wants?”
“Yes!”
“If that’s what Brother wants——”
Bang Jin Bo clenched his fists tightly.

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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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