Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 22

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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 22. Rising from Where You Fall—4
When Dam Ho opened his eyes, the first sensation that flooded through him was agony. As if his entire body were coming apart, the pain seized him from head to foot.
“Am I… still alive?”
He tried moving his hand first.
It moved.
His feet moved too.
Only then did Dam Ho release a shaky breath of relief. The pain remained, but at least he could move.
Dam Ho looked around. Yet all he could see was darkness—he couldn’t make out anything more than a hand’s breadth ahead.
“Am I buried under debris?”
But there was almost no pressure bearing down on his body. Breathing came without much difficulty either.
Dam Ho lay still, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark. How much time had passed? Gradually, as his vision adapted, the surroundings began to take shape.
“Where am I?”
Dam Ho’s pupils trembled.
The place where he lay was a vast cavern.
One wall of the Underground Cavern had collapsed, and through the breach, an enormous mass of earth and stone poured inward. It seemed the shock of the Valley’s collapse had triggered the cavern’s destruction.
Dam Ho too appeared to have been swept by the debris into this cavern.
“Heh…”
A desolate laugh escaped Dam Ho’s lips.
He felt no sign of another living soul.
He alone existed in this vast underground space. It was as good as being buried alive.
That dizzying solitude, that crushing sense of loss—there were no words for it. No matter how iron his resolve, Dam Ho could not help but despair in such a moment.
Dam Ho’s shoulders began to tremble uncontrollably.
It was as if an earthquake had struck. The explosion that had begun inside the Valley had spread to the entrance, and the entire gorge had caved in. The thought that anyone might survive within it seemed impossible.
“Vile wretches! So they would choose Mutual Destruction in the end.”
Cheong Heo trembled with rage.
He looked urgently around. Several disciples of the Wudang Sect were nowhere to be seen. They had failed to escape the Valley and been swept away by the landslide.
The situation was no different for the Zhongnan and Huashan sects. A number of their disciples were missing. The few who had barely survived bore looks of utter desolation.
Yeom Jung Hwa ground his teeth.
“Fearsome creatures indeed. They chose self-destruction the moment they were discovered.”
“At least we were spared the worst. We’ve prevented their resurrection entirely.”
Geum Han Su’s words earned a slow nod from Yeom Jung Hwa.
“True enough. With this, the remnants of the Demon Cult are as good as eradicated.”
Yeom Jung Hwa’s gaze drifted toward the Huashan contingent.
The Huashan disciples huddled together in one place. At their center stood Hyeon So.
“Ho!”
Hyeon So’s voice trembled as it rang out.
He stared at the ruined Valley, disbelief written across his face.
Most of the Huashan disciples had escaped, yet Dam Ho was nowhere to be found.
Mu Gyeong answered in a voice thick with sorrow.
“Forgive us, Master. We tried to save him, but we were too late.”
……
While Mu Gyeong spoke, Un Gyeong said nothing. He only clenched his lips tight and stared out toward the distant sky.
“How can this be?”
Hyeon So’s legs gave way beneath him, and he sank to the ground where he stood.
No one could comfort Hyeon So as he gazed at the collapsed Valley with the expression of one who had lost everything.
Won Ho and the senior disciples felt gratitude toward Dam Ho.
They owed their lives to him. Had they escaped at the same time as the others, their insufficient Lightness Skill would have left them buried in the debris.
“Master.”
Mu Gyeong clenched his fists.
Shame flooded his features.
He hadn’t even thought of saving Dam Ho, yet here he stood offering excuses. But he could not speak the truth now. His heart was not ready.
So all he could do was watch over Hyeon So.
“No. Ho didn’t die. He would never die so meaninglessly. That child is not one to perish so easily.”
Hyeon So forced himself to his feet.
“Master.”
“I’m fine. I’m fine…”
Un Gyeong moved to steady him, but Hyeon So refused the help.
Hyeon So stood motionless, like a statue carved from stone, his gaze fixed on the ruined Valley.
“Ho.”
***
Dam Ho opened his eyes.
He couldn’t begin to measure how much time had passed.
It felt as though he’d lost consciousness for mere moments, yet days might have slipped away. In that suffocating darkness, tracking time was nearly impossible.
Dam Ho lay motionless, his gaze fixed blankly on the ceiling above.
It took a long while before focus crept back into his eyes—eyes that had surrendered all will to resist.
Then he saw it: something strange in the cavern. A faint luminescence emanated from one corner of the stone chamber.
Dam Ho drew upon his Inner Vision. A small stone embedded in the ceiling came into view, shedding its pale radiance into the gloom.
“A Night Pearl?”
Few things in this world commanded such a price as a Night Pearl. Yet this one’s shape was unnatural, bearing marks of deliberate craft.
“Has a human hand touched this place? How could it be?”
The notion that human presence had reached into this vast subterranean expanse seemed impossible.
A single word surfaced in Dam Ho’s mind.
“The Tianjin Magic Palace.”
Eum Yu Gyeong had spoken of it. Now Dam Ho was certain—this was indeed the Tianjin Magic Palace.
The lair of the Demon Cult’s Demon Masters. If they could survive here, so could he.
He had to verify it himself.
Dam Ho forced his body upright.
“Ugh!”
A groan escaped his lips, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain.
Each step was agony. Yet he pressed on, bearing the torment with grim resolve.
First, he needed a clear picture of his circumstances. Only then could he think, plan, and act.
The Underground Cavern was vast. Scattered throughout were traces of countless inhabitants—abandoned belongings strewn about as if the place had been evacuated in haste.
“People lived here?”
Several passages branched out from the central cavern.
Following one of these corridors, Dam Ho emerged into a chamber not quite as immense as the main cavern, yet still considerable in size. Night Pearls had been mounted here too.
The hard floor bore footprints in many places—unmistakably the marks left by those who practiced Martial Arts.
“A training ground?”
Dam Ho furrowed his brow.
As a martial practitioner himself, he knew the telltale signs of weapons training. He wouldn’t mistake such evidence.
He moved deeper into the next chamber.
“Haah!”
Pushing his body too hard, his breathing came ragged and labored. But Dam Ho didn’t stop. He couldn’t afford to.
‘I have to survive. Whatever it takes—’
Water and food: those were the essentials to endure in this sealed underground space.
Dam Ho searched every corner of the cavern systematically. And at last, he found what he desperately needed.
A small stone chamber lay before him, filled entirely with wooden boxes. When he opened one, it overflowed with small black pills.
A faint grain-like aroma rose from them.
“Grain Avoidance Pills.”
These were the Grain Avoidance Pills the Demon Cult’s warriors had stockpiled for emergencies. The quantity was substantial—enough to sustain him for weeks to come.
“That’s enough.”
A single ray of light pierced through the endless darkness.
His grip tightened around the wooden box.
Dam Ho clenched his teeth.
The words of Hyeon So seemed to echo in his mind like a phantom sound.
“All I need is an unwavering will—”
Then Heaven itself would open a path before him.

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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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