Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 163

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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 162. There Are Things You Must Never Touch—3
Dam Ho’s gaze swept across a corner of the inn where several patrons trembled, their anxious eyes fixed upon him.
Dam Ho spoke to them.
“All of you. Leave.”
The moment his words fell, the people shuffled cautiously toward the inn’s door as though entranced by some invisible force.
The Namgoong Clan’s martial artists, despite their intent to slaughter everyone inside the inn, inspired far less terror than Dam Ho’s sheer presence.
Several among them whose courage ran thin met his gaze and lost control of their bladders on the spot.
A wolf may be fearsome, but it pales before a tiger.
That was precisely what everyone in the inn felt in that moment.
They hurried outside, while the Namgoong Clan’s martial artists watched helplessly, unable to move a muscle to stop them.
Dam Ho’s eyes held them rooted like chains around their ankles. One step, they felt, and their bodies would shatter into pieces. They could barely draw breath.
Namgoong Jang Gyeong was no exception. He ground his teeth, his blood-shot eyes blazing with murderous intent as he glared at Dam Ho across the threshold.
‘Of all places, to encounter the clan’s mortal enemy—the Demon of Authority—here.’
Dam Ho had become a marked man of the Murim Alliance in the course of helping Hwang Hye Ryeong escape. Orders had already been disseminated throughout every sect and great family: kill Dam Ho on sight, or report him to the Alliance.
The conditions for conflict were already in place. The problem was that Namgoong Jang Gyeong could not convince himself they possessed sufficient strength to overcome Dam Ho.
As the patrons finished filing out, Namgoong Jang Gyeong sent a secret transmission to his swiftest warrior.
―Slip out through the back now and inform the main clan that the Demon of Authority has appeared.
―Understood.
The subordinate who received the transmission answered with grim resolve.
Namgoong Jang Gyeong stepped forward.
“So you dare meddle in the clan’s affairs. Your audacity knows no bounds, does it—Demon of Authority.”
He deliberately raised his momentum, channeling his inner force outward.
Jong Li Yeon and Hwa No were near at hand, but they had long since fallen from his attention.
Inspired by Namgoong Jang Gyeong’s display, the Namgoong Clan’s other martial artists steadied themselves and drew upon their reserves of power.
That was when it happened.
Crash!
Dam Ho suddenly hurled a punch like lightning toward the rear of the inn.
“Argh!”
The Namgoong warrior who had been slipping toward the back door shrieked as he was hurled into the wall. Dam Ho had unleashed the Geokgong Jang.
Without so much as a glance at the mangled corpse, Dam Ho opened his mouth.
“Who said anyone could leave?”
“Ugh!”
Namgoong Jang Gyeong’s face contorted in horror.
He had never imagined—never even dreamed—that Dam Ho would sense his intent and strike.
Any martial artist would be overawed in the presence of the Namgoong name. Even those belonging to the Nine Great Sects could not help but shrink beneath it.
The weight of those four characters was immense—the accumulated prestige of a noble house built over centuries. Yet facing the renowned Namgoong Clan, Dam Ho showed not the slightest deference. Indeed, he dominated them entirely.
Jong Li Yeon could scarcely believe what unfolded before her eyes.
The Namgoong warriors retreating before the aura of a single man—it was like dogs who had barked so fiercely tucking their tails as they faced a tiger.
“No wonder the world fears the Demon of Authority. Now I understand why.”
“Indeed, it seems to be the case. Hmm.”
Hwa No let out a low whistle.
The overwhelming presence Dam Ho displayed was something even the prime version of Hwa No could never have imagined.
Namgoong Jang Gyeong cried out as though determined not to lose heart.
“You dare lay hands on the Namgoong Clan!”
“Mind your words. I didn’t start this—you did.”
“Ugh!”
“I was here first, eating my meal. You were the ones who came to kill me.”
Dam Ho advanced toward Namgoong Jang Gyeong.
His uneven gait—one foot slightly dragging—bore down on Namgoong Jang Gyeong’s spirit with terrifying pressure.
“I am curious.”
“C-curious about what?”
“About that arrogance of yours. That arbitrary way of thinking. Why do you believe you can threaten others as you please, yet cannot bear it when the tables turn?”
“Ugh!”
“I understand it well enough. With power, you want to use it. To wield violence freely, knowing no one can truly stand against you.”
Dam Ho’s voice cut through the silence with an unsettling clarity, piercing the ears of every Namgoong warrior present.
“So I ask you: do you find it enjoyable? Doing such things?”
……
Namgoong Jang Gyeong could not speak.
His mind churned with countless retorts, yet none could cross his lips.
Dam Ho’s question had touched something that lay buried deep within Namgoong Jang Gyeong’s chest—some emotion he could not name.
But he didn’t know precisely what it was. And so he couldn’t answer Dam Ho’s question.
The fact that he couldn’t answer Dam Ho’s question infuriated him. Dam Ho’s inquiry was shattering his pride as a member of the Namgoong Clan entirely.
In the end, Namgoong Jang Gyeong raised his voice to hide his true feelings.
“I won’t listen to any more of your reckless babbling. Take him down!”
“Yaaaaah!”
As if they’d been waiting for the signal, the Namgoong Clan warriors erupted with a war cry and rushed toward Dam Ho.
Watching them charge like a pack of dogs, Dam Ho muttered under his breath.
“I find no joy in this.”
He clenched his fists.
“Not in any of it.”
A scorching fury boiled up from the depths of his chest.
“Taking lives. There’s no pleasure in it. But if it must be done… I won’t hesitate. Not for a moment.”
Dam Ho stamped the ground.
The Chungbo flowed forth, followed by the Breaking Star Hammer.
Bang!
With a thunderous roar, someone’s life went out before his eyes.
Blood sprayed. Flesh crumpled.
Dam Ho’s entire body was soaked in crimson.
“You monster!”
Namgoong Jang Gyeong’s anguished cry echoed through the Inn.
In that instant, another deafening boom tore through the air.
Crack-boom!
The entire Inn shook as if an earthquake had struck. Three of the Namgoong Clan warriors fell dead at once.
“Hyaaah!”
Namgoong Jang Gyeong swung his blade at Dam Ho.
Whoosh!
Sword energy burst forth along the blade’s edge, slicing through the air.
The Somjeon Sipsamgeom Roe.
A supreme technique among the Namgoong Clan’s sword arts. And the most powerful form within it—the Roeun Danpa—unfolded toward Dam Ho.
Namgoong Jang Gyeong, who ranked confidently among the upper echelon even within the Changgung Faction, unleashed this form with all his might. The power was formidable beyond question.
The problem was that his opponent was Dam Ho.
Though he’d been in the Jianghu only a short time, he’d fought more people than anyone.
His instinct to seize the crux of victory in a heartbeat was unmatched under heaven.
Dam Ho sensed the breaking point of the Roeun Danpa in an instant and hurled himself forward.
Whine!
His right foot cut through empty space.
The Tanma Gak.
Bang!
The Roeun Danpa that Namgoong Jang Gyeong had unleashed collided with the Tanma Gak and dissipated.
Dam Ho’s body dropped to the ground. In that moment his left foot barely grazed the floor, his torso rotating. Then his right foot whipped out again like a lash.
He’d deployed the Tanma Gak once more.
Bang!
Thunder exploded outward, and Namgoong Jang Gyeong staggered backward, dazed. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his neatly bound hair had come undone long ago from the relentless impacts.
“Ugh!”
Namgoong Jang Gyeong gritted his teeth, trying to counterattack. But no further opportunity came.
Bang!
Dam Ho’s elbow drove into his ribs.
As his eyes flew wide with agony, Dam Ho’s fist smashed into his face.
Crack!
Namgoong Jang Gyeong heard the sound of shattering bone—a pain he’d never imagined in his life. He didn’t even have time to comprehend that the crack was the sound of the bones in his face giving way.
Because his breath had already ceased.
Thud!
The corpse of Namgoong Jang Gyeong, his face grotesquely mangled, collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
“Ungh!”
“Impossible!”
The surviving Namgoong Clan warriors recoiled in horror.
Namgoong Jang Gyeong was renowned as a master even within the Namgoong Clan and the Changgung Faction. The fact that such a man had died without mounting any real resistance flooded his men with despair.
Thump!
The warriors who had been backing away step by step found the wall behind them. Realizing there was nowhere left to retreat, they threw caution to the wind and charged at Dam Ho.
“Arraaaah!”
“Let us die together, Gwon Ma.”
Their anguished cries echoed through the Inn.
In that moment, Jong Li Yeon closed her eyes.
It was a fight whose outcome had already been written—like a battle between an adult and a child.
Bang! Bang!
Deafening explosions tore through the air. One by one, the lives within that space were extinguished.
When she opened her eyes again, every warrior in the Inn lay as a cold corpse.
The warm refuge that had sheltered weary travelers now held nothing but the reek of death.
For Jong Li Yeon, whose calling was to preserve life, the sight was almost unbearable.
“Ugh—”
She barely held back the bile rising in her throat. Her face was streaked with tears.
“Miss!”
Hwa No rushed to support her.
“I’m all right. I just…”
But her complexion had gone ashen, belying her words.
“Please, sit here for a moment.”
Hwa No guided Jong Li Yeon to a nearby chair. She sank into it, struggling for breath.
Hwa No’s gaze turned toward Dam Ho.
The sight of him—drenched in blood, his eyes burning with an eerie light—was something out of a nightmare.
Hwa No was a seasoned wanderer of the Jianghu who prided himself on his experience, yet he had never encountered a presence like Dam Ho’s, one that inspired such primal fear in all who beheld it.
He drew a breath to steady himself.
Meeting Dam Ho face to face required courage he had to summon from within.
At last, he found that courage and opened his mouth.
“Dam… Master!”
Dam Ho lifted his head and looked toward Hwa No.
Though braced for it, when Hwa No met those eyes, he flinched involuntarily. But he quickly composed himself and bowed with formal respect.
“We are grateful for your aid.”
“I did not help you. So there is no need for thanks.”
“But…”
“If you had not touched me, these people would still be alive.”
Dam Ho drew a clear line. Hwa No found himself with nothing left to say.
“Sigh.”
In the end, Hwa No withdrew with a quiet breath.
Years in the Jianghu had taught him that when facing someone like Dam Ho, extreme caution was essential.
There was no point in scratching at a line he had drawn.
While Hwa No had regained his composure, Jong Li Yeon’s mind remained clouded.
A figure standing at the opposite pole from herself—a healer.
Death itself emanated from him.
‘Gwon Ma… the one who dispenses death.’
Jong Li Yeon could no longer bear to look at Dam Ho and closed her eyes, yet his image continued to flicker in her mind, tormenting her.

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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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