Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 169

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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 168. Give One, Return Ten—3
Thump!
Jong Ri Yeon carefully inserted the final Silver Needle. The recipient of her needle was none other than Dam Ho.
Dam Ho was so grievously wounded that he could scarcely bear to look upon himself. A child’s-fist-sized hole gaped through his chest, and another vast cavity had torn open his flank, laying bare his organs beneath.
Beyond those, there were several wounds that would have been fatal to any ordinary man—yet he lived still, a miracle in itself.
For Dam Ho’s sake, Jong Ri Yeon had employed the Returning Soul Living Needle Great Method, a secret technique from her lineage.
The Returning Soul Living Needle Great Method was one of her secret arts, and she rarely used it because it consumed an enormous reserve of her inner strength. But given Dam Ho’s dire condition, she had steeled herself and deployed it without hesitation.
‘I’ve done all I can now. All that remains is to watch and wait.’
Even after executing the Returning Soul Living Needle Great Method, she could not guarantee his survival. A physician since childhood, she had never once encountered a patient whose entire body bore such mortal wounds.
‘It will not be easy.’
Now all Jong Ri Yeon could do was observe.
She sat beside Dam Ho and watched for a long while.
At first, there was no change at all. It was the moment she was about to surrender hope.
Hisssss!
Dam Ho’s entire body grew as crimson as molten iron, and steam rose from his skin, formed from his sweat.
“What—?”
Witnessing a sight she had never seen before, Jong Ri Yeon’s eyes widened.
The vapor rising from Dam Ho’s body reeked so foul that it made her head pound.
As a physician of distinction, Jong Ri Yeon grasped what was happening.
‘Proof that the toxins and waste matter accumulated within his body are being expelled.’
The problem was that the Returning Soul Living Needle Great Method should never produce such a phenomenon. It was merely emergency treatment—fanning the faintest ember of life into a small flame.
The heat radiating from Dam Ho’s body grew more intense as time passed. Jong Ri Yeon was forced to retreat further from him.
Drip, drip!
Through his pores, waste matter seeped away, and from his grotesquely opened wounds, discharge and dead blood drained forth.
A recovery rate that defied belief.
‘Did the Returning Soul Living Needle Great Method possess some hidden property I never knew? No—it was merely a single drop of oil cast upon a dying flame. This man’s strength… the Heart Method he has cultivated is healing him of its own accord.’
Within Dam Ho’s body, the Amhon Heart Method was stirring.
Built upon Hua Shan’s Central Heart Sutra and infused with the Heart Methods of the Demon Cult, the Amhon Heart Method was awakening Dam Ho’s Innate Life Force.
Innate Life Force was the fundamental vitality each human possessed from birth. Those born with strong Innate Life Force grew robust, free from childhood ailments, while those born with weak Innate Life Force grew sickly and often died young from various afflictions.
Fortunately, Dam Ho’s Innate Life Force was exceptionally strong. The Amhon Heart Method was triggering it with tremendous force.
It beat down his Innate Life Force as if wielding violence, forcibly activating it. The Innate Life Force, harmonized with the Amhon Heart Method, slowly mended Dam Ho’s shattered flesh.
“What—?”
Jong Ri Yeon, watching this unfold, shook her head in disbelief.
For all her years as a physician, she had never heard of nor witnessed such formidable recovery power.
“So this is what they meant by the Poison Sect School? Truly a lineage born of the impossible. Such overwhelming martial might paired with recovery of this caliber…”
Jong Ri Yeon exhaled a heavy sigh and stepped outside.
There was nothing more she could do.
“Physician, I am truly grateful. Truly grateful.”
As she emerged, Gwak San bowed his head again and again.
Even with Gwak Yeon’s life hanging by a thread, Jong Ri Yeon had not faltered—she had succeeded with the Life-Death Illusion Soul Needle for the third time. Thanks to her, Gwak Yeon had barely been snatched from death’s grasp.
Gwak San understood better than anyone how perilous that moment had been. For that reason, he felt a gratitude toward Jong Ri Yeon that words could never capture.
“Though I have removed the source of her ailment, she is not yet fully recovered. You must brew the medicinal herbs I’ve written down and have her consume them. At least three months.”
“Rest assured, young lady. I shall procure whatever herbs you have prescribed.”
“And leave this place at once. If the Namgoong Clan learns of the blood catastrophe that occurred here, they will not remain idle.”
“And you, young lady?”
“I must stay and observe this man a while longer.”
Jong Ri Yeon glanced briefly at Dam Ho within the hut. He remained deep in Cultivation Practice, with no telling when it would end.
“Then we shall remain as well, young lady.”
“There’s no need.”
“But—”
“I am a physician. A physician cannot abandon a patient and flee. Do not concern yourself with me—take Yeon and leave at once. A life won with such difficulty cannot be thrown away.”
“I understand.”
In the end, Gwak San answered with difficulty.
For the past several years he had lived in anguish to save Gwak Yeon. That hellish vigil had scarcely ended—he could not now place her in danger again.
Gwak San departed the hut with Gwak Yeon. Jong Ri Yeon watched the father and daughter recede into the distance, a smile crossing her face.
But it faded quickly, and she sighed, turning her steps elsewhere. She made for the clearing behind the hut.
There stood a freshly made grave. It was Hwa No’s grave.
“Hwa No.”
Jong Ri Yeon reached out and caressed the mound of earth.
“Now that I think of it, I never even learned your true name. If I’d known it would come to this, I would have pressed you to tell me long ago.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Her connection to Hwa No reached back three years.
At that time, she was just beginning to make her name as a physician. Returning from examining a patient, she found Hwa No collapsed on the shore of an unnamed lake.
Hwa No bore grievous injuries then, his breath shallow and labored. Jong Ri Yeon brought him to her home and treated him.
Barely clinging to life, Hwa No afterward took it upon himself to become her protector and traveled at her side. He lived openly with Jong Ri Yeon, yet kept his past sealed tight, never speaking a word of it.
All he ever gave was the name Hwa No—though even that was likely not his true name.
She’d resolved to discover it someday, only to step back each time. Now, it seemed, the chance to learn his real identity had slipped away forever.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
Jong Ri Yeon leaned her back against the grave mound and closed her eyes.
Dam Ho’s body trembled violently.
It was the sign that his Yun Gong had reached its apex. Cold sweat poured from every inch of his frame without pause.
On the surface, there was no sign, but within Dam Ho’s body a fierce battle raged.
His Amhon Heart Method was exploding.
The Amhon Heart Method, until now held in check by Dam Ho’s will, surged forth in harmony with his Innate Life Force like a wild horse freed from its reins, thrashing about without restraint.
Dam Ho abandoned all effort to control the Amhon Heart Method and instead observed it. The more he tried to force its submission, the more violent and chaotic it became.
A low groan escaped him.
He clenched his teeth instead.
Enduring pain was what he did best. This degree of suffering was something he could bear without measure.
Dam Ho bore it, and bore it still.
How much time passed this way? The Amhon Heart Method’s power, which had raged like madness, gradually began to subside.
The Innate Life Force, too, which had flared so high, recovered its original composure and returned to its proper place.
A long breath escaped him.
Dam Ho opened his eyes and exhaled.
The first thing that entered his vision was Jong Ri Yeon.
“Ah! You’ve awakened.”
Dam Ho’s image was reflected in her large eyes. He blinked several times in confusion.
Memory of the time before his cultivation practice surfaced.
When he slew the Geomwang Unit entirely, Dam Ho had been at death’s door. It would have been no surprise if his breath had stopped at any moment. Had Jong Ri Yeon not deployed the Returning Soul Living Needle Great Method in time, his life would truly have been in peril.
“How many days have I been in cultivation?”
“Today marks the fourth day.”
At Jong Ri Yeon’s answer, Dam Ho’s brow furrowed.
Four days was ample time for the Namgoong Clan to notice something amiss and dispatch an investigation party.
Dam Ho pushed himself upright.
The joints of his body, stiffened from four days of cultivation practice, cried out in protest.
“You mustn’t move yet. Your internal injuries have stabilized somewhat, but your external wounds haven’t fully healed.”
At Jong Ri Yeon’s objection, Dam Ho glanced down at his wounds.
As she said, the external injuries had not yet healed. Barely a scab had formed, the bleeding merely stanched. Any slight strain would split them open, blood flowing freely.
Yet Dam Ho disregarded this and rose to his feet. Severe pain shot up his spine, but he betrayed nothing of it.
“Good heavens, what a stubborn one.”
Watching him, Jong Ri Yeon shook her head slowly.
She had long known he was no ordinary man, but she hadn’t realized his stubbornness ran quite so deep.
“There’s no helping it. Put these on. They’re the most presentable of Gwak San’s clothes.”
Jong Ri Yeon handed Dam Ho a neatly folded garment.
The clothes Dam Ho had been wearing were torn to shreds, barely covering his modesty. He was nearly naked.
After handing him the garment, Jong Ri Yeon flushed and turned away, stepping outside. When she returned shortly, Dam Ho had changed into clean clothes and come out to meet her.
The landscape where the battle had taken place was grim indeed. The bodies had been roughly cleared away by Gwak San, so none remained, yet bloodstains marked the ground and flies swarmed everywhere.
“We should leave this place at once.”
Jong Ri Yeon spoke urgently.
She had been forced to remain here all this time because of Dam Ho. She wanted nothing more than to depart as soon as possible.
Dam Ho nodded and gave a whistle. Jong Ri Yeon regarded him with a puzzled expression.
But her question was answered quickly. A moment later, a pitch-black horse came galloping toward them at tremendous speed.
The black horse was Black Ghost. Black Ghost arrived in an instant and nuzzled its head against Dam Ho’s face in greeting.
Dam Ho lightly patted Black Ghost’s cheek.
Once Black Ghost had settled, Dam Ho spoke to Jong Ri Yeon.
“Get on.”
“You mean to ride together now?”
“If you prefer, walk down yourself.”
A sigh.
Jong Ri Yeon exhaled and climbed onto Black Ghost’s back, with Dam Ho taking his seat behind her.
“Let’s go!”
Black Ghost bolted across the earth like a madman, racing down the mountainside.
“Ah!”
Jong Ri Yeon gasped involuntarily as a crushing wind pressure engulfed her entire body.
The raw wind against her face made it almost impossible to open her eyes. But as she grew accustomed to it, the landscape blurring past began to come into focus.
Yet she had no leisure to admire the view. It was the man’s powerful scent behind her that consumed her awareness.
As a physician, she had met countless people, many of them men, but none had ever carried a scent as potent as Dam Ho’s.
The intense musk teasing her nostrils left her unable to compose herself. Heat flushed her cheeks, and her heart raced wildly.
Jong Ri Yeon was grateful that Dam Ho could not see her face.
＊＊＊
Shortly after Dam Ho’s departure, a figure appeared at the location of the earthen prison. It was an elderly man with a composed bearing, appearing to be in his mid-to-late fifties.
The ease that usually graced his features had vanished, his face now rigid as though bound in iron.
Before him lay a large, freshly made mound of earth.
Namgoong Cheon made a subtle gesture toward the mound. The soil parted, pushed aside by an unseen force.
In the hollow beneath lay twenty corpses, tangled together in death.
“The Geomwang Unit—completely annihilated.”
The old man’s name was Namgoong Cheon. He was the patriarch of the Namgoong Clan.
Growing impatient waiting for the Geomwang Unit to return, he had come himself.
On his way here, Namgoong Cheon had personally verified the bodies of Namgoong Mu Jin and other members of the Unit. Now he confirmed that those remaining were all dead as well.
“How absurd. To think the Geomwang Unit met complete annihilation at the hands of a single man.”
His voice carried a hollow emptiness.
The greatest military force protecting the Namgoong Clan had vanished in an instant. All at the hand of one person.
However mighty the Namgoong Clan might be, rebuilding the Geomwang Unit would require decades. During all those long years, the Clan would suffer a catastrophic gap in its strength. It was a fatal blow indeed.
Moreover, the young patriarch Namgoong Mu Jin’s condition had only worsened—beyond saving, even if an immortal sage were to arrive.
“That wretch. I will kill him.”
Sword King Namgoong Cheon burned with rage.

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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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