Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 48

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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 48. There is no justice more valuable than human life—Part 2
“Lord Eun Ha-seong.”
The urgent voice piercing the quiet night made Eun Ha-seong furrow his brow slightly. But he quickly composed himself and opened his mouth with a grave expression.
“Come in.”
The door swung open and a martial artist, his face flushed with urgency, rushed inside.
“Lord Eun Ha-seong.”
“What is it?”
“We’ve found it.”
“Found? What—”
Eun Ha-seong began to ask but stopped himself. Then came his subordinate’s voice, confirming his expectations.
“We’ve found the Blood Demon’s Legacy.”
“At last!”
A gleam of fierce joy crossed Eun Ha-seong’s face. His clenched fists trembled, thick sinews rising like worms beneath his skin.
“The object—where is it?”
“At Byeol Won, near Blood Demon Peak. My men will retrieve it at first light.”
“No. I’ll go myself.”
He rose at once and rushed toward Bakgyeok Dalbong. With his Light Qinggong fully unleashed, it took him barely two hours to scale to the midpoint of the peak where Blood Demon Peak loomed.
Byeol Won, nestled at the midpoint of Bakgyeok Dalbong, was a place Eun Ha-seong used occasionally—unknown even to exist by outsiders.
Inside Byeol Won, his subordinates stood watchful guard. In their midst sat an enormous metal chest.
The surface of the chest, crafted from some unidentifiable metal, bore vivid etchings of an ascending dragon.
“Lord Eun Ha-seong!”
The men who had brought the chest dropped to one knee in unison. But Eun Ha-seong paid them no mind, walking straight past toward the chest resting on the cart.
“At last… it has come into my hands. The Blood Demon’s Legacy.”
His voice trembled involuntarily.
For the past several years, he had labored for nothing but this—to obtain the Blood Demon’s Legacy. He had abducted countless people and forced them into servitude. He had committed deeds no man should commit, again and again.
And now, finally, he had the fruit of his obsession. This was the triumph of sheer will.
His hand brushed across the chest. His fingertips felt the rough texture of the engravings. And through his entire body surged a mysterious, subtle force.
Eun Ha-seong was certain: the Blood Demon’s Legacy lay within this chest.
“Where was it found?”
“In the western sector.”
“As I suspected. You’ve labored well.”
“It was nothing.”
“The laborers—where are they?”
“They’re resting at Blood Demon Peak for now.”
At his subordinate’s words, Eun Ha-seong’s lips curved upward. His expression carried an ominous undertone.
“Good.”
“My lord?”
“Loose ends serve no purpose. Clean it up once day breaks.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The subordinate answered without a moment’s hesitation.
It had been inevitable from the moment the excavation of Blood Demon Peak began. Should word of this spread, Seocheon Sanjang would never become Hegemon of Shin Gang—instead, they would become a Public Enemy of the entire Gangho.
“The girl—still not captured?”
“The Chief Administrator went himself, so we should have good news soon.”
“Hmph.”
A crease deepened between Eun Ha-seong’s brows.
Chief Administrator Jo Hyeol-san was his most trusted aide. Yet unease gnawed at him.
“She must be captured. At this critical moment, if Blood Lin Salmak interferes, everything crumbles. To be safe, keep those men on standby.”
“Those men, you mean?”
“You know who.”
“Ah, understood.”
The subordinate’s voice quivered slightly as he answered—proof of his tension.
Eun Ha-seong lifted the chest. Heavy as a boulder, it seemed weightless in his hands as he carried it toward his private quarters within Byeol Won.
He felt his subordinates’ stares on his back but paid them no mind. On Eun Ha-seong’s face bloomed a clear smile.
Once inside his quarters, Eun Ha-seong set the chest down.
Hummmmm!
Others could not sense it, but Eun Ha-seong felt it keenly—a powerful resonance emanating from within the chest.
The resonance was calling out to him.
“This is destiny. The Blood Demon’s Legacy was always meant to come to me.”
His smile deepened.
Eun Ha-seong reached to open the chest’s lid. But the chest was seamless—smooth as polished stone.
By conventional means, there was no opening that chest. But Eun Ha-seong felt no concern.
From the moment he had learned that the Blood Demon had met his end in this place, he had investigated everything about him.
He knew more about the Blood Demon than anyone else in the Gangho. The man’s nature, his tastes, even his habits.
“He was so obsessed with blood that he earned the epithet ‘Blood Demon’ itself. So there’s no way he’d pass on his legacy to someone who hadn’t shed a single drop.”
Slice!
Eun Ha-seong drew a Concealed Blade and cut open his own palm. The blade carved a deep wound, and blood streamed from his hand.
He brought his bleeding palm to the chest.
Drip-drip!
The blood traced the patterns on the chest’s surface before beginning to absorb—greedily, like a beast starved of blood.
“Heh heh! There, drink your fill.”
A laugh escaped Eun Ha-seong’s lips.
Saturated with blood, the chest flushed red, then suddenly fractured. The cracks spread rapidly across its surface until it crumbled apart. What lay inside was finally revealed.
A single volume—tattered, on the verge of crumbling to dust—and a single bead, strikingly crimson.
“This is…?”
Eun Ha-seong held the volume and the bead in both hands.
Blood Demon True Scripture.
Those words were unmistakably written on the worn cover.
“At last, the Blood Demon’s supreme art lies in my hands.”
His eyes gleamed with exultation.
Eun Ha-seong examined the volume hastily. It was indeed the Blood Demon’s supreme art. His gaze shifted to the bead he held.
“Then this must certainly be a Spirit Pearl?”
He found himself thinking better of the Blood Demon. The man had even prepared a Spirit Pearl to enhance internal energy for whoever would inherit his legacy.
Without hesitation, Eun Ha-seong placed the Spirit Pearl in his mouth. The moment saliva touched it, the pearl dissolved smoothly and slid down his throat into his belly.
“Mmm!”
As Eun Ha-seong smiled at the rush of fullness spreading within him, agony suddenly erupted from his gut.
A searing pain, as though a blade heated in flames were hollowing out his abdomen, wrenched his mouth open.
“Ughhhh!”
A cry like the howl of a wounded beast filled the chamber.
Scorching fire raced through Eun Ha-seong’s blood meridians, consuming his entire body. Overwhelmed by a force of terrible magnitude surging within, he rolled across the room with eyes bulging wide.
He could not even attempt to cultivate his internal energy. Blood rushed to his head. His veins bulged grotesquely; his eyes flushed crimson.
His head felt ready to burst.
“Bastard! You damned Blood Demon!”
Unable to bear the pain, Eun Ha-seong screamed curses at the Blood Demon.
He cursed the Blood Demon and all his ancestors together. Yet the agony would not fade.
“AAAAHHHHH!”
His anguished scream echoed through Byeol Won.
The main gate of Seocheon Sanjang was under more stringent guard than ever. The tense atmosphere kept the warriors standing watch rigidly forward-facing, not daring even a sidelong glance.
Then something strange appeared before their eyes.
A single horse was approaching Seocheon Sanjang. Upon it sat a portly young boy.
“What is this?”
Confusion flickered across the sentries’ faces.
It was the break of dawn, before the sun had risen. Far too early for visitors.
Moreover, after the incident of days ago, strict orders had been issued to admit no one today.
The guards focused their internal energy into their eyes. Then an odd sight came into view.
Behind the portly boy on the horse, darkness rippled unnaturally thick.
It did not take long to recognize that this was no mere darkness, but a black horse and a figure clad in black robes.
“W-who are you?”
The warriors sensed something ominous and raised their guard. Even as they leveled their weapons, the visitors did not slow their approach.
“Halt!”
The warriors infused their voices with internal energy. But by then, the strangers had already drawn near the gate of Seocheon Sanjang.
“This is no place for outsiders to approach carelessly. State your purpose.”
Yeop Gyeong, the captain of the gate guard, stepped forward.
Though he stood at the gate, Yeop Gyeong’s martial skill ranked among the finest in Seocheon Sanjang. His nature was cautious, and he rarely felt his composure shaken by ordinary events.
Yet in this moment, his heart thundered wildly, and a chill raced down his spine.
From the instant the man on the black horse revealed himself, Yeop Gyeong’s body had reacted of its own accord. A pressure unlike anything he had felt even from the Master Eun Ha-seong bore down upon him with crushing weight.
He shouted to shake off that oppression.
“I asked who you are.”
“Is this Seocheon Sanjang?”
The man in black robes upon the black horse finally spoke.
A voice devoid of all emotion, cold and indifferent—yet somehow terrifying. That very numbness, that gaze flickering in the darkness.
The man riding the black horse was none other than Dam Ho.
Dam Ho dismounted from the Black Ghost.
The moment his foot touched the ground, Yeop Gyeong’s eyes glinted.
‘Limping?’
It was barely perceptible, but the man was unmistakably favoring one leg. That realization brought a strange wave of relief.
Yeop Gyeong’s voice rose.
“This is Seocheon Sanjang. It is not a place for outsiders to visit without cause. If you have business, return when daylight breaks.”
“Is the proprietor inside?”
“Why do you seek the proprietor? He does not meet with those of unknown station like yourself.”
“Is that so?”
Dam Ho’s voice dropped to a razor’s edge.
In that instant, the warriors at the gate stiffened.
‘Something is about to happen.’
Dozens of martial artists, nearly as one, arrived at the same thought.
Their eyes fixed on Dam Ho, every muscle coiled and ready.
They wanted to look away from him. But they could not.
Something ominous emanating from his frame held their gaze captive, refusing to release it.
Dam Ho paused, studying Seocheon Sanjang before him.
Despite the late hour, lights blazed throughout, painting the compound like a city that never slept. The magnitude of the complex matched the throng of voices that echoed within it.
The proprietor himself was surely among them.
A bleak whisper escaped Dam Ho’s lips.
“If you won’t come out, I’ll bring you out.”
“What—”
Bang!
A deafening crack split the night, and Yeop Gyeong’s body hurtled backward. As his consciousness frayed, one thought crystallized: something felt wrong.
What had happened?
Why was he flying?
And this pain—
Crash!
Yeop Gyeong’s body collided with the gate. The wooden structure shattered, and Yeop Gyeong felt nothing at all.
What remained of him scraped across the stone floor.
“The, the captain—”
“That bastard killed the captain. Attack!”
The warriors, their wits finally returning, surged toward Dam Ho as one.
Dozens rushed a single man. Yet Bang Jin-bo did not fear for him.
‘Brother!’
Dam Ho moved.
Boom!
Thunder erupted in succession, and the dozens who had converged on their solitary target became mangled flesh, scattering in all directions.
Hell itself had opened its gates at Seocheon Sanjang.

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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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