Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 168

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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 167. Give One, Receive Ten—Part Two
“The medicine.”
Jong Ri Yeon fed Gwak Yeon the second dose.
Gwak Yeon’s complexion had improved noticeably from before. Yet danger still clung to him.
Clang!
Outside, Hwa No and the Geomwang Troop continued their fierce battle. Explosions thundered without cease, and violent waves of force shook the Mo House to its foundations.
Performing the Life-Death Needle Technique amid such chaos was nearly impossible. Yet Jong Ri Yeon’s formidable concentration transformed the impossible into reality.
Thwick! Thwick!
Jong Ri Yeon drove Silver Needles into every point of Gwak Yeon’s body with unflinching precision. This was already her second deployment of the Life-Death Needle Technique. Beside her, the needles from the first treatment lay blackened and scattered—the malignant energy that had lurked within her own body had discolored them.
‘If the needle misses even slightly, Gwak Yeon dies. Focus, Jong Ri Yeon.’
She urged herself onward, placing each needle with meticulous care.
Sweat poured from her entire body in thick, unrelenting streams.
Gwak San watched her with anxious eyes as he continued brewing the final Herbal Decoction.
Then it happened.
Boom!
A deafening blast tore through one of the Mo House’s walls. In its wake, a violent wind swept through the interior.
“No, it can’t be!”
Gwak San shielded the medicine pot with his own body. His left arm burned in the intense heat, but he had no time to feel the pain.
Once he confirmed the Herbal Decoction was unharmed, Gwak San’s gaze snapped toward Jong Ri Yeon.
Splinters of wood lay thick across her hair and shoulders. She too had not escaped the blast unscathed.
Jong Ri Yeon was clearly shaken and shocked. Yet she clenched her teeth and fought to maintain her composure.
Gwak San called to her.
“Young mistress!”
“I’m fine. You finish brewing the Herbal Decoction.”
“Y-yes, understood.”
Gwak San nodded desperately at her response.
‘Young mistress!’
Hwa No, locked in combat with the Geomwang Troop, caught a glimpse of Jong Ri Yeon from the corner of his eye.
He saw her performing the Life-Death Needle Technique with desperate focus. Because he had failed to perfectly intercept the Geomwang Troop’s assault, the Mo House’s wall had crumbled.
Hwa No fought the Geomwang Troop with absolute desperation.
Time had stolen his youth but given him in return experience and cunning. He compensated for his waning martial strength with hard-won wisdom, fighting with everything he possessed.
The result: five members of the Geomwang Troop brought down. The price: wounds scattered across his entire body.
Deep lacerations gaped like fish gills across his flesh. Yet Hwa No had no room to acknowledge the pain.
The Geomwang Troop’s coordinated assault turned like precisely meshed gears.
Shick!
A blade from one of the Geomwang Troop’s Martial Artists grazed Hwa No’s right arm.
“Ugh!”
Hwa No’s face twisted.
His right arm hung useless—whether from severed nerves or shock, he could no longer move it. In that instant, Hwa No understood with sudden clarity that a critical choice loomed before him.
‘Young mistress!’
He harbored no attachment to his own life.
Jong Ri Yeon had saved him, granting him these extra years when he should have died long ago. Every breath he’d drawn since then was borrowed time.
“Haaaah!”
Hwa No drew forth every last shred of martial power he possessed.
Whoooosh!
The very air trembled.
Sensing something amiss, Namgoong Sung Chan, the commanding officer of the Geomwang Troop, cried out.
“Everyone, be careful!”
“Too late. Break Emperor Blood Demon Palm!”
Hwa No opened both palms wide.
Crackling-boom!
In that instant, crimson Demonic Energy erupted from his palms.
“Wh-what is this?”
“Demonic Energy.”
The Geomwang Troop cried out in alarm and attempted to scatter from the wave’s radius. Yet a dozen of their Martial Artists were caught in the crimson torrent.
“Ahhhhh!”
“Argh!”
The Geomwang Troop members caught in the Demonic Energy released agonized screams as bone and flesh melted from their bodies.
The surviving Geomwang Troop members flinched in horror at the devastating, terrible power.
“What is this?”
He’d never heard of a martial art capable of dissolving human bone and flesh in a single strike.
Meanwhile, Hwa No, having unleashed the Break Emperor Blood Demon Palm, knelt and vomited blood. The floor and his chest turned crimson.
‘Urgh! Was I too reckless?’
Years ago, with Jong Ri Yeon’s help, he’d survived against impossible odds, but his internal energy had never fully recovered.
The Break Emperor Blood Demon Palm was a vicious demonic art. Even with an intact body, withstanding its backlash was no simple feat—unleashing it in his incomplete state meant that recoil was consuming Hwa No’s very life.
Hwa No lifted his head and surveyed the battlefield.
Five members of the Geomwang Troop still stood. By the thinnest margin, he’d managed to dodge the worst of it.
Their faces had gone ashen, yet they could still move without difficulty. Hwa No, by contrast—his internal organs shattered by the Break Emperor Blood Demon Palm’s recoil—could not move at all.
Only his formidable internal energy kept him breathing, but in truth, he was already as good as dead.
The Geomwang Troop exchanged glances. They too had read Hwa No’s condition.
Namgoong Sung Chan, their commander, issued his order.
“You two—bring me the woman.”
“Yes!”
Two members of the Geomwang Troop advanced toward Jong Ri Yeon.
Jong Ri Yeon was in the midst of her third Life-Death Needle Technique. She had entered the most critical phase.
Any disturbance now would endanger not only Gwak Yeon, but Jong Ri Yeon herself. But the Geomwang Troop had no way of knowing this.
“No, you can’t!”
Gwak San threw open both arms, blocking their path.
His entire frame trembled like aspen leaves. His face had drained of all color, yet somehow he didn’t retreat.
“Hmph!”
But the Geomwang Troop fighters owed him no mercy. They scoffed and kicked him aside.
“No!”
Hwa No, witnessing this, cried out through bloody lips. But Gwak San was already sprawled on the ground, his chest caved in by the blow.
“Worry about yourself, old man.”
Namgoong Sung Chan unleashed the Heavenly Thunder Palm toward Hwa No.
‘No, no, no!’
Jong Ri Yeon’s eyes wavered as she maintained the Life-Death Needle Technique.
Her Unshakeable Mind shattered before Hwa No’s peril.
The hand holding the silver needle trembled uncontrollably. There was no way she could place the needles with precision now.
‘I have to save Gwak Yeon…….’
Yet she couldn’t bear to watch Hwa No die. For years, he had been her guardian and closest kin.
Jong Ri Yeon was just about to squeeze her eyes shut.
Bang!
A thunderous explosion suddenly erupted across the battlefield, and a violent wind crashed against her body. But she felt no pain.
Jong Ri Yeon cautiously opened her eyes. Before her stood a silhouette—someone shielding her.
A man in black robes, torn to tatters like rags, his back drenched entirely in crimson blood.
Beneath his feet lay two members of the Geomwang Troop who had been advancing toward her—now little more than mangled corpses.
“Ah!”
An involuntary gasp escaped Jong Ri Yeon’s lips.
It was Dam Ho.
He was advancing toward Namgoong Sung Chan and the remaining Geomwang Troop fighters.
Had an ordinary person walked thus, they would have appeared diminished, but Dam Ho was anything but ordinary.
Flinch!
With each step Dam Ho took, Namgoong Sung Chan and the Geomwang Troop fighters retreated. They were overwhelmed by his sheer presence.
“Haaaagh!”
Ragged breath escaped Dam Ho’s lips.
“H-how?!”
Namgoong Sung Chan stammered.
Disbelief blazed across his face.
If Dam Ho had appeared, it meant Su Cheon was dead. It meant the eighty-odd Geomwang Troop members who’d gone with him had been annihilated.
Su Cheon was a guardian who had protected the Namgoong Clan from the shadows for years. He was not someone who should fall so easily.
“You…… are you even human? How did you slaughter so many?”
Namgoong Sung Chan’s face twisted into something grotesque.
Of the hundred Geomwang Troop fighters, only three remained alive. With such numbers, there was no way to overcome Dam Ho—not if he were in normal condition.
But Dam Ho’s state was anything but normal. His entire body was carpeted with wounds so horrific that the very act of moving seemed miraculous.
Namgoong Sung Chan exchanged a look with the remaining Geomwang Troop fighters.
‘An act.’
This was his conclusion, drawn from observing Dam Ho’s condition, his breathing, and countless other signs.
‘Swift and decisive!’
There was no room for further hesitation.
Wheesh!
The moment their blades sliced through the air, Dam Ho moved.
Bang!
Dam Ho’s body drove straight into the chest of the martial artist on the left. The man’s sternum caved inward as blood sprayed from his mouth. Dam Ho, drenched in the man’s blood, drove forward without pause.
Gasp!
Namgoong Sung Chan, who had been swinging his blade with full force, froze suddenly. If he continued, his own sword would cleave his subordinate in two.
Even though death was certain, he found himself unwilling to desecrate his subordinate’s corpse with his own blade.
That moment of hesitation sealed Namgoong Sung Chan’s fate.
Dam Ho’s fist drove into Namgoong Sung Chan’s flank.
Boom!
Ugh!
The punch struck the right side, yet the left side erupted outward.
A hole tore through his flank, and his organs spilled out.
The light drained from Namgoong Sung Chan’s eyes as his mouth fell slack.
No… this can’t be…
The sole survivor of the Geomwang Troop retreated step by faltering step.
A hundred had come. Only he remained.
The… the Authority…
It felt like a nightmare.
‘Complete annihilation of the Geomwang Troop. How is this possible…’
Dam Ho drew closer.
He still limped as he moved.
In that moment, the martial artist glimpsed one slim possibility of escape.
Snap!
He hurled himself backward and deployed his Lightness Technique with every ounce of strength.
‘He’s crippled. He can never catch me. Shame or not, I must survive. I must reach the clan and tell them of his existence.’
That was why he fled.
Thud!
In that instant, someone seized his leg.
It was Hwa No. He had gathered his last remaining strength to grab the man.
Let go, you worm!
The martial artist was just about to shake Hwa No loose.
Wheesh!
Dam Ho unleashed the Breaking Star Technique.
A violent wave of force bore down like a tidal surge, engulfing his entire frame.
The pressure twisted his face in agony. Then Dam Ho’s fist struck, smashing into his skull.
Crack!
The martial artist’s head burst like overripe fruit.
With the last man fallen, Dam Ho’s body swayed.
Thump!
Dam Ho dropped to one knee, coughing blood. His face had gone ashen.
He suffered life-threatening injuries to organs and bone. Now he paid the cost of his recklessness.
Dam Ho gritted his teeth and activated the Dark Soul Inner Technique.
If he lost consciousness now, death would follow. He had to cling to awareness and heal his wounds through his own strength alone.
Hwa No watched Dam Ho in awe—a man determined to solve this through his own power to the very end.
Yet the light in his eyes faded swiftly. His body had already suffered wounds beyond recovery. That he had endured this long was a miracle in itself.
Heavenly Evil… I must tell…
Hwa No’s lips trembled, then stilled.
His breath had stopped.

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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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