Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 36

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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 36. Not every passing breeze is warm—Part 2
Dam Ho knelt on one knee and examined the corpse. The moment he confirmed the face, his eyes grew heavy.
He recognized this person.
‘The merchant who left after arranging the Silver Lotus Merchant House.’
After Jo Su Gwang’s death, he had become the linchpin—and now lay grotesquely dead in the middle of the Grassland. There was no need to examine the other corpses.
“The… Silver Lotus Merchant House? Why?”
Bang Jin Bo’s voice trembled.
They had traveled together for an entire year on this inspection tour. One could distinguish faces by clothing and build alone.
The corpses now scattered about were merchants of the Silver Lotus. Those who had departed separately after receiving his aid now lay dead in this place—wholly unexpected.
“Brother, why would they…?”
“They’ve been attacked.”
“By whom?”
“Either allies of those who assaulted us before, or their accomplices.”
“That can’t be!”
Bang Jin Bo’s eyes quivered.
These were people who had endured sudden calamity and yet set out determined to live. Seeing them now as cold corpses sprawled across the Grassland struck him a profound blow.
Dam Ho noticed a fact that made the scene more ominous: many were missing.
‘Taken captive?’
Dam Ho rose to his feet.
His expression remained unchanged even as he regarded the dead merchants.
‘This was deliberate.’
The corpses lay scattered precisely along the path where he and Bang Jin Bo would pass. Someone wanted them to see these dead.
Torture marks visible on several merchants’ bodies confirmed his suspicion.
Wounds cut just shallow enough to keep them living, salt rubbed into them afterward—traces unmistakable. Even those trained in martial arts would have broken under such agony. How much more merchants with no such training.
The outcome was as plain as daylight.
“Brother!”
Bang Jin Bo looked toward Dam Ho.
The fear that had vanished in Dam Ho’s company flickered back to life in his eyes. Dam Ho reached out and ruffled his hair with one large hand.
“There’s nothing to fear.”
“But…”
“Trust me.”
“Yes!”
At Dam Ho’s words, the tension drained from Bang Jin Bo’s face. Strangely, relief washed over him.
Dam Ho patted his shoulder and scanned the surroundings.
Only endless Grassland stretched before them. Yet Dam Ho sensed hidden eyes. Somewhere in that vast green expanse, others watched him and Bang Jin Bo.
A desolate gleam kindled in Dam Ho’s gaze. Bang Jin Bo, oblivious, continued to look about.
There was no time to gather the dead. Dam Ho mounted the Black Horse, leaving the corpses where they lay along the path. But Bang Jin Bo hesitated, reluctant to simply ride past and abandon them.
“Let’s go.”
Only after Dam Ho urged him did Bang Jin Bo finally mount his horse.
“So he simply leaves.”
Gyeong Cheon Saeng’s lips curled into a smile.
He stood in the heart of the Grassland, tall grass concealing him and his followers from view.
“A fascinating one, from what I’ve heard.”
Gyeong Cheon Saeng’s eyes glinted with something feral.
Finding the Silver Lotus Merchant House had not been difficult. Their destination was predictable.
He had picked up their trail at Toro Ban, encountered them here, and the result spoke for itself.
The merchants had hired martial artists in Toro Ban to protect them. But these hired blades were so mediocre they hardly warranted the effort to warm up.
He had slaughtered them as one might thresh rotted straw, then set about torturing the merchants.
To learn who had killed Dong Ja Chu and Hyeol Rang Dae.
Under torture, the merchants broke and confessed. What they revealed was extraordinary.
‘Only one man.’
He had assumed at least a dozen. The culprit was a single person.
He could scarcely credit that one man alone had wrought such devastation. So he had tortured others to confirm. But every answer was the same.
Now belief was unavoidable.
The killer was one man alone. And he was strong enough to alarm even Gyeong Cheon Saeng.
He had positioned the merchants’ corpses along the man’s path to test him. If he could observe how the man disposed of the dead, he might discern his true nature.
If he possessed even ordinary human sentiment, he would not turn away from dead merchants. Then, when he moved to collect them, Gyeong Cheon Saeng would strike.
But Dam Ho’s response defied expectation. He showed no shock, collected no corpses. His reaction lay wholly outside the bounds of ordinary men—beyond even the scope of those Gyeong Cheon Saeng knew.
“A fascinating one indeed. And yet he walks with a limp…”
At first, the report had seemed false. A man who favored his leg could hardly stand against warriors of Hyeol Rang Dae and Dong Ja Chu’s caliber.
A subordinate spoke up.
“What should we do?”
“If they’ve touched what’s ours, they need to pay the price.”
“Should we attack now?”
“Where’s the fun in doing it so hastily?”
“Then?”
“We’ll shake him up. Keep sending gifts.”
Gyeong Cheon Saeng turned to look behind him. There, bound and weeping, was a group of people—survivors from the Silver Lotus Merchant House.
Gyeong Cheon Saeng’s mouth twisted into a cruel smile.
＊＊＊
“I… I….”
Bang Jin Bo’s mouth fell open in shock.
Bodies lay strewn across their path again. People who had not been visible before were now corpses.
Nailed through all four limbs to a massive tree was someone Bang Jin Bo knew well. Even in death, he could not escape—his eyes still wept tears of blood, bound in suffering.
Dam Ho’s gaze grew colder still.
He understood instinctively that this was a provocation directed at him.
Even now, they were surely hidden somewhere, watching for his reaction.
They wanted to see Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo cower and panic pathetically.
Dam Ho spoke to Bang Jin Bo.
“Don’t let yourself be shaken.”
“But….”
“That’s what they want.”
“I… understand.”
Bang Jin Bo clenched his teeth and nodded. Tears glistened in his eyes.
Despair filled Bang Jin Bo’s face. Seeing this, Dam Ho spoke.
“There’s something you must do.”
“What is it?”
Beneath the great tree, Dam Ho removed his Black Robe.
As he handed the robe to Bang Jin Bo, his gaze remained fixed on the distant Grassland.
“He’s…?”
“Just riding away, sir.”
“He’s simply leaving again?”
“Yes, sir.”
At his subordinate’s report, Gyeong Cheon Saeng rose from the stone where he had been resting.
In the distance, beyond the great tree, Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo departed on horseback, leaving the corpses behind. Seeing them ride away, Gyeong Cheon Saeng’s brow furrowed slightly.
Their reaction was far removed from what he had anticipated. Any ordinary person should show some disturbance, yet Dam Ho displayed none whatsoever.
“Hmm. Colder than he appears.”
“What shall we do?”
“We’ve run out of gifts. Now we move directly.”
“Are we finally taking him down?”
“Ready the men. Tell them to brace themselves—something feels different about this.”
“Understood.”
The subordinate bowed deeply.
Bloodlust burned in his eyes.
It had been tedious waiting. Killing the captured merchants had been entertaining enough, but it lacked the true thrill of hot blood.
“One more thing—what about reporting to the estate?”
“Later. After we take him down, that will be soon enough.”
“Understood.”
The subordinate answered and withdrew.
Gyeong Cheon Saeng rose to his feet.
Now was the time to move. He conducted a light assessment of his condition.
His Inner Energy flowed unobstructed through his entire body, and his muscles were in excellent form.
“A fine day for a fight.”
As Gyeong Cheon Saeng smiled.
Thwong!
A sound like a raindrop striking still water rang out across the air.
Ripples expanded through the atmosphere, and sharp sonic waves spread outward in all directions at terrifying speed.
As the razor-edged vibrations pierced through his consciousness, Gyeong Cheon Saeng felt every hair on his body stand on end.
“What—?”
Gyeong Cheon Saeng’s face drained of color.
Without thinking, his hand flew to the hilt of the sword at his waist. Instinct had seized control.
“What’s happening?”
He shouted the words.
The voices of his subordinates—who should have answered instantly in normal circumstances—did not come.
The air itself had grown heavy, as though crushed beneath an enormous boulder. His men were pinned beneath that terrible weight.
Gyeong Cheon Saeng rushed toward where his subordinates were stationed.
“Hm!”
In that instant, his eyes changed.
A man stood in the path ahead of his men. When he had arrived, Gyeong Cheon Saeng could not say.
“When?”
For the first time, Gyeong Cheon Saeng’s pupils trembled.
The man blocking the passage was unmistakably someone Gyeong Cheon Saeng knew well. And yet he should not have been here at all.
‘I distinctly saw him ride away on horseback.’
A man in a black robe astride a black horse—these were Dam Ho’s most unmistakable features. But the Dam Ho standing before him now wore no black robe.
Only then did Gyeong Cheon Saeng realize he had been deceived.
‘Tsk! To fall for such a crude trick.’
Dam Ho had dressed a corpse in his black robe and placed it upon the horse. The distance had simply been too great for Gyeong Cheon Saeng and his men to see through the deception.
Gyeong Cheon Saeng stepped forward.
“A clever mind, then. That much is clear.”
His sword hilt remained gripped firmly in his hand.
Dam Ho’s gaze turned toward Gyeong Cheon Saeng.
“Hm!”
A low groan escaped Gyeong Cheon Saeng’s lips unbidden.
At a distance, it had been impossible to gauge. But now, meeting that gaze head-on, the pressure it exerted surpassed all imagination.
‘Were the merchants’ words not truth after all?’
When he had heard their accounts, he’d assumed exaggeration colored every word. Still, caution seemed wise. He had sent gifts to test Dam Ho, measuring the man’s worth. But the man had seen through Gyeong Cheon Saeng’s intent and struck back instead.
And the pressure emanating from his gaze was no trivial thing. Even from his liege lord, Gyeong Cheon Saeng had never felt such force.
Gyeong Cheon Saeng spoke.
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
“We are……”
Gyeong Cheon Saeng fell silent.
Their identities must not yet be revealed.
Dam Ho stared at Gyeong Cheon Saeng intently.
“Why did you kill the merchants? If I was your target, you could have come directly for me.”
“Hmph! Because those wretches were worth nothing more than that.”
“……”
“Every person has their measure of value. They possessed only that much. Their existence changes nothing—the world would be no different with them or without them. That is why they deserved to die.”
“I see!”
Dam Ho’s gaze turned desolate and cold.
“Then you’ll have to prove it—that you are worth living.”

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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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