Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 34

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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 34. Even Thorny Paths Are Walked by the Living—3
Hamil was like the final gateway from the Western Regions into the Central Plains. Four days past Hamil lay Jiayuguan Pass, the threshold to the Central Plains proper.
Hamil was one of the largest cities in Sae-oe. In its day, it had prospered so greatly that foreign dynasties had even established themselves there.
As they entered Hamil, the air changed. Until now it had felt somehow stale and oppressive; the air of Hamil was far lighter and fresher. It meant the Central Plains were drawing near.
Dam Ho and Fang Jin-bo stepped in, feeling the city’s air against their skin. Dust lay thick upon their hair and shoulders.
It had taken them ten days to cover a journey of five. Yet with each day spent, Fang Jin-bo’s complexion had improved, and much of his old humor had returned.
He still fell into melancholy now and then, but that was something time would mend. Dam Ho thought this was enough.
Fang Jin-bo had grown obsessed with cooking. Whenever he spotted wild herbs or fruit that might serve as ingredients, he had to taste them; at every meal, he had to cook himself. His supplies from the nameless villages they’d passed through had long since run out.
Dam Ho did not scold him for it. He understood that this was how Fang Jin-bo was healing his wounds.
“Wow! Look at that!”
Fang Jin-bo let out an excited cry at the sight of ingredients spread across the market stalls. As befitted a city where so many gathered, Hamil’s streets overflowed with every manner of provisions.
Fang Jin-bo stared at the ingredients on display as though a fish had discovered water, unable to look away.
“There’s bamboo shoot, and pine pollen pastry. Oh, wonderful!”
Like the son of a master chef that he was, Fang Jin-bo possessed deep knowledge of all manner of ingredients.
He gathered every ingredient that caught his eye without restraint. Dam Ho had given him more than enough coin, so he had nothing to worry about.
Only after Fang Jin-bo had finished his purchases did they head toward an inn.
It was called the Qing Jiang Inn. Large enough to rank among the finest establishments in Hamil, the Qing Jiang was always teeming with people.
An inn was not merely a place to eat and sleep. With so many people gathering, a constant flow of information passed through its halls. That was why merchants traveling long distances preferred the larger establishments.
Dam Ho was unaware of such considerations, but he did know that the larger an inn, the better its facilities. That was why he had chosen the Qing Jiang.
“Welcome!”
Jeom So-yi rushed over promptly.
Fang Jin-bo spoke up on Dam Ho’s behalf.
“Do you have rooms available?”
“We do. How many beds would you like?”
When Fang Jin-bo responded with such affability, a smile naturally bloomed across Jeom So-yi’s face. Why should he not be pleased when someone addressed him so warmly?
“Could we get a single room?”
“You’re in luck—I’ve got just one left. Head up this floor, follow the left corridor all the way, and you’ll find it at the end. That’s the one.”
“Thank you so much.”
“Don’t mention it!”
Jeom So-yi scratched his head.
Dam Ho nodded as he watched Fang Jin-bo’s pleasant demeanor.
Fang Jin-bo had not always been so affable from the start. Walking alongside the taciturn Dam Ho, he had felt compelled to become this way—a sense of duty that if he did not, then no one would.
“What about food?”
“If you’re hungry, sit anywhere there’s space. I’ll bring it right out.”
Fang Jin-bo glanced at Dam Ho. It was a signal that he was indeed hungry.
“Let’s sit there.”
“Yes!”
The two made their way toward an empty table.
It was tucked in the corner, away from the eyes of most patrons. Dam Ho took a seat with his back to the wall and spoke.
“You order the food.”
“Yes!”
A smile spread across Fang Jin-bo’s face.
This was the moment he had been anticipating most. He called out for Jeom So-yi again.
“What dish are you most confident about here?”
“Well, I’m confident in all of them, but if I had to recommend something, I’d say the Steamed Lamb. It’s a lamb stew made with our inn’s own secret recipe, and the flavor is absolutely exquisite. The Steamed Lamb with a cup of wine will wash away all your fatigue.”
“That sounds wonderful. I’ll have that.”
“An excellent choice. Just wait a moment—I’ll bring it right out.”
“Yes!”
Jeom So-yi hurried off to the kitchen.
Fang Jin-bo gazed around the inn interior with curious eyes.
The space inside was vast. There were more than twenty tables, and most were filled.
Some appeared to be merchants, while others were martial artists bearing weapons. Their expressions did not look particularly bright.
“Is it true the bandits have been so rampant lately?”
“Don’t even mention it. One wrong move and you’ll lose not just your goods but your life.”
“Sigh! What calamity is this?”
The merchants’ murmuring reached their table.
Fang Jin-bo’s expression grew dark for a moment. The mention of bandits had brought his father to mind. But it was brief; soon he forced himself to smile.
“They still don’t know, do they? That all the bandits were wiped out by you.”
Dam Ho nodded silently in response.
“Why are the bandits still so active, I wonder……”
“They could’ve just taken the goods. I don’t understand why they had to drag people off.”
“Exactly. Sigh! Either way, let’s pray tomorrow’s journey passes without incident.”
“Have some wine.”
The merchants’ sighs hung heavy in the inn, casting a deeper pall over the room.
That’s when Jeom So-yi appeared with a tray.
“Hehe! While we wait for the Steamed Lamb to come out, I’ve brought some fried tofu and wine—consider it a palate cleanser, if you will.”
“Thank you! Hehe!”
“Don’t mention it. So…….”
Jeom So-yi bowed sharply to Dam Ho, then scurried back toward the kitchen in quick steps.
“Let me pour for you, sir.”
Fang Jin-bo filled Dam Ho’s cup to the brim. Dam Ho accepted it in silence.
He’d watched his master drink many times before, but he’d never tasted it himself.
When he occasionally asked what it tasted like, his master would say that every emotion in the world was contained within.
Dam Ho brought the cup to his lips.
The first taste was bitterly sharp. He couldn’t fathom why his master enjoyed it so much.
But the second sip was rather pleasant.
By the third cup, it had improved further. Yet he still couldn’t understand his master’s devotion to it.
Dam Ho set the cup down. It simply wasn’t for him, he decided.
Just then, the inn door swung open and someone stepped inside. The patrons’ eyes naturally turned toward the entrance.
“Oh!”
“Ah!”
Various murmurs of admiration erupted throughout the room—the newcomer commanded attention with an unmistakable presence.
Two figures had entered the inn: one elderly, one young.
More precisely, an old man and a woman. But all eyes were fixed on the woman.
She was in her early twenties, radiating the fresh vitality of a wild horse galloping freely across the steppes. Tawny skin, unusually large eyes—and striking within them, a subtle gleam of blue that seemed almost otherworldly.
Her strange, luminous beauty captivated everyone. She possessed an exotic, vital loveliness that was impossible to ignore.
As the woman surveyed the inn, Jeom So-yi hurried over.
“Welcome, honored guest.”
“Do you have rooms?”
The old man beside the woman posed the question. His face was deeply lined with age, his spine bent with the weight of years. Yet the eyes that glinted from between those wrinkled lids blazed with a sharpness that belied his advanced age.
Jeom So-yi’s bearing became even more deferential.
“Only a single room and a deluxe suite remain.”
“We’ll take the deluxe suite.”
“How long will you be staying?”
“We’ll decide as we go.”
“Of course. I’ll have the suite prepared at once.”
“We’ve traveled far and are famished. Bring us several of your finest dishes—spare no expense.”
The old man withdrew a small nugget of silver from his sleeve. Jeom So-yi sensed a stroke of good fortune and bent nearly double in obsequious haste.
“Yes, of course! Please, have a seat and wait just a moment.”
Jeom So-yi dashed off to the kitchen at a run.
The old man swept his keen gaze across the inn. Every merchant who met his eyes instinctively lowered their head.
The intensity in those ancient eyes was scarcely believable—they blazed with a ferocity that marked him unmistakably as a martial master. The merchants sensed it at once, their instincts screaming the truth.
These were seasoned traders, hardened by years on the road. Any woman who traveled with such an elder would be no ordinary person. There was nothing to gain and everything to lose by becoming entangled with her.
“This way, miss.”
The old man led the woman to an empty table—as fate would have it, right beside where Dam Ho and Fang Jin-bo sat.
“Heuk-no, it’s quite crowded here.”
“Hamil is always a gathering place, miss. No matter where you go, it will be this busy.”
“Is that so?”
“Of all the inns in Hamil, this one is the most pleasant.”
“Very well. If you say so, then it must be.”
The woman smiled brightly and took her seat. Only after she was settled did the old man, Heuk-no, sit down.
From this gesture alone, it was clear that the woman held far higher status than her elderly companion.
The woman gazed around the inn with evident curiosity. Even that simple act radiated such charm that the fresh vitality surrounding her seemed almost palpable.
Her wandering gaze suddenly halted at the secluded table where two guests sat. More precisely, where Dam Ho and Fang Jin-bo were positioned.
While Dam Ho’s face remained as expressionless as stone, Fang Jin-bo stared at the woman as though entranced.
The woman noticed Fang Jin-bo’s gaze and smiled.
“Is there something on my face?”
“You’re so… so beautiful…….”
Fang Jin-bo’s head dropped low. His face flushed crimson up to his neck. At his innocent stammering, the woman let out a soft laugh.
“Thank you! What’s your name?”
“Fang Jin-bo.”
“Jin-bo? A fine name indeed. Mine is Sim Ok.”
“Sim Ok!”
“That’s right! Pretty, isn’t it?”
The woman who had introduced herself as Sim Ok lifted her chin with evident pride, yet the gesture suited her so naturally that it came across as charming rather than off-putting.
Fang Jin-bo answered with unguarded sincerity.
“Yes! Very pretty.”
“Ha-ha! You’re quite the amusing child, aren’t you.”
Sim Ok broke into laughter, and Heuk-no’s brow furrowed slightly at the sound.
“Young lady, please maintain your composure.”
“Yes, yes, I heard you. But he’s just too adorable.”
Sim Ok cast a sidelong glance at Heuk-no with a provocative smile—the sort of look that would make an ordinary man’s heart skip—but Heuk-no’s expression remained unmoved.
Her gaze shifted to Dam Ho, who sat beside Fang Jin-bo. While the boy gazed at her with innocent eyes, Dam Ho manipulated his chopsticks with no expression at all.
A glimmer of curiosity crossed Sim Ok’s face.
No matter how she looked at it, Dam Ho seemed like a statue devoid of emotion. Even Heuk-no, her own guardian, possessed a certain coldness, yet he did not appear as utterly void of feeling as Dam Ho did.
The pairing of Dam Ho and Fang Jin-bo seemed incongruous at first glance, and yet watching them together, there was something undeniably complementary about it.
This strange incongruity piqued her interest.
Sim Ok rose from her seat. Heuk-no opened his mouth at once.
“Sit down, young lady.”
“Why? What do you think I’m about to do?”
“It would only be a nuisance to those who are eating peacefully.”
“Tch!”
Unable to have her way, Sim Ok settled back into her chair. She shot another glare at Heuk-no.
“That expression will not please your father, I suspect.”
“It’s fine! He’s not here anyway.”
“Young lady!”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
Sim Ok raised both hands, as if exhausted by Heuk-no’s nagging.
Heuk-no was the bane of her existence—which was perhaps why her father had assigned him as her guard.
The playfulness drained from Sim Ok’s face.
Her voice dropped lower.
“But you’re certain about that place?”
“I am certain.”
“You are?”
Sim Ok’s eyes gleamed with cold calculation. The mischievous, reckless girl from moments before had vanished entirely.

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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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