Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 70

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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 69. Strong Enough to Walk Alone—Part 1
The Nine Ascending Dragons meant the greatest talent in the current Gang Ho. Among thousands and tens of thousands of young martial artists, reaching the highest rank was not something that could be achieved through martial prowess alone.
Without a mind as sharp as one’s blade and the judgment to read any situation, no one could ever ascend to the seat of those nine rising dragons.
Though Nam Hak was called by the fierce alias Sky Thunder Martial Guest, he was far more than just a martial artist with strength. He possessed an exceptional intellect and could assess any situation with a clarity that few could match.
Nearly a thousand martial artists were watching this unfold. Yet the vast majority of them were mere spectators. They observed the unfolding crisis with keen interest, but none showed any inclination to involve themselves.
As for Yi Shin Pung, there was little more to say. His cheeks quivered with suppressed rage, but he lacked the courage to charge directly at Dam Ho.
The Yi Shin Pung standing here was not the Yi Shin Pung of old. The former Yi Shin Pung might have possessed formidable martial skill and fighting spirit, but from this present version, one could expect none of that earlier ambition.
Had Nam Hak been in Yi Shin Pung’s position, he would have hurled himself at Dam Ho regardless of the consequences. And he would have killed him at any cost.
In Gang Ho, anyone who shows the slightest weakness is mocked and relentlessly hounded. To survive in such a world, one must display the resolve to kill anyone who dares touch you.
Nam Hak was a man possessed of exactly that resolve. At least, he was certain of it himself.
Nam Hak’s eyes fixed on Dam Ho, gleaming with fierce determination.
“What is your name, friend? If I am to heed your counsel, I should at least know who I’m speaking with.”
To anyone watching, it was clear he was deliberately trying to belittle Dam Ho.
Beneath his words lay the unspoken confidence that no matter what Dam Ho did, he could never compare to the Gong Dong Sect, one of the Nine Great Schools.
Everyone present felt Nam Hak’s pride. No one objected—they all knew he had every right to feel as he did.
All eyes turned to Dam Ho. They expected him to give his name.
But the answer that came from Dam Ho’s lips far exceeded their expectations.
“My name is not something I offer to listen to the likes of you.”
“What?”
“And I’m not your friend.”
In that moment, fire seemed to blaze in Nam Hak’s eyes. His gaze burned with such intensity it looked as though he might tear Dam Ho to shreds on the spot.
“So this is what Nam Hak’s name truly sounds like when no one listens. I’m learning something new today.”
Nam Hak’s voice carried unmistakable fury.
Nam Hak strode toward Dam Ho in long, measured steps. With each step closer, his killing intent swelled like a gathering snowball.
The Manrae Heart Method.
A secret technique passed down within the Gong Dong Sect as a treasure held by only one successor at a time, and Nam Hak was its current master.
When one perfected the Manrae Heart Method, they gained the power of Manrae itself, a destructive force unmatched in all the lands.
Nam Hak had cultivated the Manrae Heart Method to the Seventh Realm. Beyond the Eighth Realm lay enlightenment rather than effort, a matter that would take time to resolve.
But even at the Seventh Realm, its power far surpassed any other martial art. This gave Nam Hak absolute confidence.
“You’d better give it your all. Because if I win, I’ll take you to the Gong Dong Sect and ensure you receive proper punishment.”
“If you win?”
“I swear it on the name and honor of the Gong Dong Sect. At the very least, the martial artists of Gam Suk Province will inflict no further retaliation upon you. Isn’t that right?”
Nam Hak’s last words were directed at Yi Shin Pung. Under the weight of Nam Hak’s piercing gaze, Yi Shin Pung found himself nodding without thought.
“Of—of course. I stake the honor of Hong Am Mountain Manor on it.”
In that briefest of instants, Yi Shin Pung caught sight of countless arcs of lightning flickering in Nam Hak’s eyes.
‘So… this is the true depth of the Gong Dong Sect.’
Though he had thought he’d narrowed the gap considerably, the Gong Dong Sect’s reserves ran far deeper and thicker than he had imagined.
If Nam Hak, merely the First-generation Disciple of the Gong Dong Sect, possessed this much power, he couldn’t even begin to fathom what strength the elders or the sect master might wield.
Yi Shin Pung looked back at Dam Ho, wondering if the momentum of Nam Hak’s presence had shaken him at all.
In that moment, Dam Ho spoke.
“You’ll regret it.”
“Arrogant!”
Nam Hak could contain himself no longer. He lunged toward Dam Ho.
Whoosh!
The sound of Nam Hak’s fist tearing through the air cut sharply across the silence. It was the Chaeun Fist, the supreme technique of the Gong Dong Sect.
True to its name—chasing clouds—its power was formidable, and it was Nam Hak’s favored striking art.
In that instant, Dam Ho pushed off the earth.
His body shot forward in a straight line toward Nam Hak.
It was the Charge Step—a movement method with no tricks, no feints, only pure forward momentum.
At the same moment, the Wave Star Hammer unfurled.
Boom!
Dam Ho’s fist met Nam Hak’s fist in midair.
“Ugh!”
Nam Hak’s pupils shrank in shock.
His fist, hardened to steel by relentless training, suddenly felt as though it might shatter. The pain that shot through it was unlike anything he had ever felt.
This had never happened before. For a moment, confusion flashed across Nam Hak’s face. Dam Ho’s expression, by contrast, remained utterly unchanged.
Since coming into this world, the Wave Star Hammer had never been stopped. But he was not alarmed.
Instead, a faint smile played at the corner of his lips.
Until now, everything had been too easy.
No martial artist had ever properly absorbed even one of his strikes, and the mere sight of his gaze had sent others trembling.
Dam Ho had risked his life to master martial arts. Of course he wanted to risk his life in combat. He craved the kind of fierce battle he’d imagined countless times over in his mind.
Yet none of his opponents thus far had lived up to his expectations. But now, standing before him, was a martial artist who looked genuinely formidable.
His identity or background meant nothing to Dam Ho.
The Gong Dong Sect?
What difference did that make?
In a moment where life itself hung in the balance, the only thing to trust was one’s own martial prowess—the unwavering resolve to kill, and nothing else.
“Khhck!”
A dry laugh escaped Dam Ho’s lips.
He’d thought every emotion had burned away, leaving only ash. Yet joy—joy still remained within him.
The sight of Dam Ho laughing even as he risked his life was enough to send a chill down the spines of everyone gathered there.
“A madman!”
Nam Hak muttered under his breath as he unleashed the next forms of the Chaeun Fist.
Blood Wind Chaeun and Chaeun Beheading—successive moves unfolded, both among the highest-power forms within the Chaeun Fist repertoire.
Boom-boom-boom!
A thunderous crash echoed through the air.
Nam Hak unleashed his fist qi freely, intent on overwhelming Dam Ho. But Dam Ho simply swayed his head left and right once, evading every ounce of Nam Hak’s qi.
Phat!
The Charge Step unfurled once more.
Like a battering ram hurled against fortress walls, his body shot forward toward Nam Hak with terrifying speed and destructive force.
“Hmph!”
Nam Hak scoffed.
From a single collision, he’d already grasped the weakness of the Charge Step.
‘A movement method that only drives forward in a straight line. Devastating, but dodge and that’s the end of it.’
The Gong Dong Sect’s Separation-Combination Step was perfectly suited for this.
With just one footfall, it could produce ten variations, and the opponent would invariably hesitate, unable to find an opening.
From that moment, Nam Hak’s counterattack would begin.
Nam Hak deployed the Separation-Combination Step to evade Dam Ho’s Charge. Or rather, he thought he had.
Phat!
In that instant, the impossible occurred.
Dam Ho’s body, rushing forward in a straight line, suddenly bent at a right angle. Without the slightest preparatory movement.
By Nam Hak’s understanding, such a thing could not happen. No martial artist under heaven could change direction at such terrifying speed.
It wasn’t a question of possibility or impossibility—it was that the body itself would be destroyed. A turn that sharp would snap the legs and spine under the crushing pressure.
Yet Dam Ho, defying all conventional wisdom, bore down on Nam Hak utterly unharmed.
With black hair and black robe billowing, Dam Ho approached at a speed Nam Hak had never witnessed in any martial artist before.
It wasn’t simply a matter of being strong or weak.
‘Fear.’
Nam Hak recognized his own emotion and went rigid with shock.
Yes. Dam Ho possessed some terrible power that inspired dread.
“Hnngh!”
Nam Hak clenched his teeth and unleashed twelve successive punches at Dam Ho.
Shwish-shwish-shwish!
Fist strikes brimming with formidable Internal Energy. A single solid hit meant more than broken bone and torn flesh.
The Whirlwind Divine Fist—a Supreme Technique of the Gong Dong Sect and Nam Hak’s signature killing move.
Twelve punches could pulverize even the soul.
Dam Ho had already charged to within striking distance. Evading twelve consecutive punches from that range seemed impossible. And Dam Ho had no intention of evading.
Dam Ho hunched his body slightly. His shoulders rolled inward, his waist bent a touch. His entire form curled into a round shape.
In that rounded posture, Dam Ho unleashed the Charge Step once more. Like someone so desperate to die they couldn’t wait any longer.
Nam Hak expected the fist qi packed into his twelve punches to deal devastating damage to Dam Ho. But in the next instant, he realized just how catastrophically he had miscalculated.
Ting-ting-ting!
The fist qi that struck Dam Ho’s body bounced away at angles or ricocheted entirely. Something Nam Hak’s understanding could not account for was happening again.
The Golden Beetle Method.
A unique defensive technique Dam Ho had created by studying the beetle. Every one of Nam Hak’s attacks bounced off at an angle.
“Gah!”
Nam Hak gasped with genuine shock. Dam Ho’s technique was nothing short of revolutionary.
Shwack!
Dam Ho’s hand shot forward.
Like a whip unfurling, his punch came at Nam Hak, who hurriedly crossed both arms to block.
Crack!
“Khhg!”
In that instant, Nam Hak received a tremendous impact to his abdomen, doubling over like a shrimp.
His eyes trembled uncontrollably.
He had calculated the angle carefully and braced his chest, yet the blow had caught his abdomen instead. By all his understanding, such a thing should have been impossible.
Variable Target Strike.
A move Dam Ho had created himself.
His whip-like fists curved inward at angles that defied prediction, as if bending of their own accord.
Much like the foreign boxing art that had come from the Western Regions long ago, where the joints could suddenly dislocate and move freely, it was nearly impossible for an opponent to anticipate the trajectory of the Variable Target Strike.
“Impossible!”
The warlords watching Nam Hak being driven backward turned ashen.
Yi Shin Pung was one thing, but that Nam Hak—the head disciple of the Gong Dong Sect and one of the Nine Ascending Dragons—could be so utterly overwhelmed was something they had never imagined.
Nam Hak spat blood as he flew backward through the air, his distress evident.
Yet Nam Hak too was a warrior at the pinnacle of his art. He was not one to be crushed so easily.
“Haah!”
In that instant, a tremendous force of Gi Pa and thunder poured from Nam Hak’s entire body. He had unleashed the Manrae Heart Method.
Crack!
The power of thunder burst forth in the empty air.
Though it fell short of the full seven-star count needed for the complete Manrae, still dozens of lightning tendrils enveloped his body.
A direct hit from such thunder would turn flesh to charcoal.
Unleashed with the totality of his strength, the power was formidable indeed. Yet Dam Ho did not hesitate—he threw himself directly toward the lightning.
“Madness!”
Those watching gasped in horror. No matter how strong Dam Ho was, hurling himself into a maelstrom of erupting thunder looked like nothing less than suicide.
For an instant, Dam Ho’s body shuddered slightly, though no one noticed.
Whoosh!
The thunder that struck Dam Ho’s body lost cohesion and scattered in all directions.
Shield Method.
Like the Golden Beetle Method, this ultra-fine vibration defensive technique, inspired by the fluttering of insect wings, was being revealed to an audience for the first time.
The lightning striking the shield dispersed like a mirage.
Nam Hak’s face emerged from behind the veil of thunder—his jaw slack in disbelief, his eyes wide.
Dam Ho’s right palm adhered to his chest.
Five Finger Rock Breaking Force.
“Aaahhh!”
With that agonized scream, Nam Hak’s body flew backward. His chest had been torn apart as if struck by a thunderbolt itself.
Thud.
The moment Nam Hak’s body hit the ground, a suffocating silence fell over the arena.

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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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