Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 8

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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 8. The Disciple Looks to the Master, and the Master Comforts the Disciple—Part 2
Dam Ho lay sprawled on the ground, motionless for a long moment. Everyone assumed he would not rise. Some among them watched with expressions suggesting Su Gyeong had gone too far.
Su Gyeong’s own face was far from easy. He had not subdued Dam Ho with pure Five Elements Fist alone; he had deployed the Plum Blossom Steps to exploit Dam Ho’s weakness.
Su Gyeong exhaled a quiet sigh.
“That should be enough. No more—”
In that instant, Dam Ho, who had lain without the slightest movement, slowly pushed himself upright. Blood streamed from his nose and mouth. Yet the resolve burning in Dam Ho’s eyes remained unbroken as he stared at Su Gyeong.
Su Gyeong spoke.
“Student, it is best we end this now—”
“Continue.”
The voice of Hyeongeom Jinni rang out across the training ground.
Su Gyeong turned to look at Hyeongeom Jinni.
“But—”
“Dam Ho’s resolve has not yet been broken. The opponent has not yielded. Would you end this on your own whim? I have no wish to teach martial arts to one so half-hearted.”
Su Gyeong clenched his teeth.
Hyeongeom Jinni’s intention was unmistakable.
To shatter Dam Ho’s will—to strip away his obsession with martial arts altogether. He believed this was the best course for Dam Ho.
‘Do not resent me, student.’
Su Gyeong seized a wooden sword from nearby and rushed toward Dam Ho.
Brilliant footwork as intricate as scattered plum petals dazzled Dam Ho’s eyes. He retreated one step back, seeking to widen the distance and discern his opponent’s intent.
Whistle!
Su Gyeong’s foot brushed past the tip of Dam Ho’s nose.
The Sweep Leaf Kick Technique.
Su Gyeong’s leg swept through the air as if clearing fallen leaves from the ground. The foot that seemed to pass Dam Ho cleanly suddenly twisted at an unnatural angle and drove downward toward his crown.
Thump!
Dam Ho crossed both arms to block Su Gyeong’s Sweep Leaf Kick.
Violent impact rippled through both forearms and into his entire body. The intense pain twisted Dam Ho’s face involuntarily.
Su Gyeong mixed the Sweep Leaf Kick Technique and the Twenty-Four Branch Plum Blossom Sword seamlessly in his assault. Against the sharp blade and dazzling kicks, Dam Ho could mount no proper defense, retreating helplessly under the barrage.
“He—he—”
The senior disciples watching felt a pang of sympathy. Though many of them harbored little affection for Dam Ho, seeing him driven so completely against the wall stirred an instinctive compassion.
Un Gyeong spoke to Mu Gyeong.
“Such is reality. No matter how strong one’s will, fundamental differences cannot be overcome. The path of a martial artist does not suit Dam Ho.”
“And yet—”
“The senior brother is destined to lead Hwasan into the future.”
With that, Un Gyeong sealed his lips. But his meaning came through to Mu Gyeong with absolute clarity.
“Tsk!”
Mu Gyeong clicked his tongue in frustration.
Meanwhile, Su Gyeong pressed his assault ever more ruthlessly. Against the interlocking attacks of sword and leg, Dam Ho had nowhere left to retreat, his body curling defensively.
“It ends here.”
Su Gyeong’s blade shot toward Dam Ho.
It was the opening strike of Plum Blossoms in Full Bloom—a technique so elaborate it conjured the illusion of countless plum blossoms of the Hwasan Sect blooming all at once.
To Dam Ho, caught in that flowering assault, no escape appeared.
Su Gyeong was certain of his victory.
‘Now.’
It was then that Dam Ho’s eyes flared with light.
Excitement seized Su Gyeong, and his movements widened. In that opening, the structure collapsed.
Crack!
Dam Ho’s right foot stamped the ground.
A single step forward, and a single punch.
Thump!
Dam Ho’s fist punched through Plum Blossoms in Full Bloom and struck true against Su Gyeong’s chest. Fortunately, inner power shielded him from grave injury.
For the first time, shock flickered across Su Gyeong’s face. Had Dam Ho’s punch carried normal inner power, his chest would have been caved in entirely. It was a strike that exploited every weakness, a vicious counterattack.
Su Gyeong felt cold creep down his spine.
He had dismissed him as a cripple, yet there lay a hidden trick—and that trick possessed force enough to make his very bones ache.
‘If that punch had carried inner power, I would be dead.’
Su Gyeong found himself looking at Hyeongeom Jinni unbidden. The master’s displeasure was evident—yet he showed no sign of ending the match.
‘Then?’
There was still a chance.
Su Gyeong swept the Sweep Leaf Kick at Dam Ho’s waist.
Thump!
Dam Ho’s face contorted. The impact was tremendous enough to feel as though his waist might snap.
Blood the color of rust dripped from the corner of Dam Ho’s mouth—evidence not of a mere surface wound, but of a deep internal injury.
Through the haze of his vision, Hyeongeom Jinni’s voice echoed in Dam Ho’s ears.
“You possess a remarkable talent, without question. What you did just now proves it. But talent means nothing if the body and inner power cannot support it. This is reality. So acknowledge it, and surrender.”
“I cannot…do that.”
Dam Ho shook his head.
His lips had been bitten so hard they split, blood seeping from the wounds.
His entire body screamed with pain—as though he’d been beaten relentlessly with a steel hammer. His left knee burned especially fiercely. He longed to collapse, to lie down and end it all. That would be easier, he thought.
But Dam Ho stood firm.
Acknowledging reality as Hyeongeom Jinni demanded was not difficult. Yet to do so would be to deny his own identity.
His single, unwavering resolve to become a formidable martial artist—all his efforts until now would dissolve into nothing.
Hyeongeom Jinni’s gaze grew colder still at the stubborn, unchanging light in Dam Ho’s eyes.
“What are you doing, Su Gyeong? The match is not over. How long will you stand there, gaping?”
At Hyeongeom Jinni’s frost-edged voice, Su Gyeong’s shoulders flinched.
‘Damn it.’
Su Gyeong gritted his teeth and attacked. After a single Sweep Leaf Kick, Dam Ho had already lost the ability to defend himself.
To order him to continue unleashing martial techniques on such an opponent? It was no different from commanding him to commit merciless violence against one who could not protect himself.
Thud-thud-thud!
Su Gyeong’s Sweep Leaf Kicks pounded relentlessly across Dam Ho’s entire body. With each strike, his frame shook pathetically, like a leather sack.
The sound of bones cracking filled the air, and his body was covered in crimson bruises, yet Dam Ho remained standing to the end.
Finally, Su Gyeong could bear it no longer and cried out.
“Please, just give up, Dam Ho.”
But there was no peace in the attacker’s heart either.
What he’d wanted was a fair martial match, not this brutal, merciless violence. Yet Hyeongeom Jinni’s cold gaze would not let him stop.
“Dam Ho.”
A groan escaped him.
The sight was so cruel that many of the sect’s senior disciples turned their heads away in revulsion. Among them was Un Gyeong, who had opposed Dam Ho’s training in the martial arts from the beginning.
“Just fall.”
What desperation drove even Un Gyeong to speak such words?
That was the measure of Dam Ho’s devastation.
The capillaries in both his eyes had burst; the world swam in red before him. In that blurring haze, pain itself had begun to fade. The agony had numbed even his nerves.
He coughed violently.
Dam Ho spat blood. The dark crimson coating his chest testified that his internal injuries were far more severe than ordinary.
He knew he could endure no longer. His will remained unbroken, yet his body had reached the absolute limit of its endurance.
Dam Ho turned his gaze toward Hyeongeom Jinni one last time. In that moment, Hyeongeom Jinni flinched.
It was the eyes that looked back at him.
In those eyes burned a desolation so desperate, a killing intent so vicious, and a defiance so absolute that it shook Hyeongeom Jinni’s composure.
The profound, unseemly desperation—utterly at odds with the pure, Daoist nature of the Hwasan Sect—made Hyeongeom Jinni bite his lip.
A primal revulsion welled up from the depths of his chest. His heart was rejecting Dam Ho entirely.
He knew this was the moment to stop.
If he allowed this to continue any further, Dam Ho would be unable not only to walk the path of a martial artist, but to live a normal life at all.
‘And yet…’
The revulsion rising in his heart sealed his lips. In that silence, Su Gyeong delivered several more Sweep Leaf Kicks to Dam Ho.
Dam Ho barely managed to part his lips.
“I will…never surrender…”
Crack!
In that instant, Su Gyeong’s final blow struck true against his temple.
The thread holding Dam Ho’s consciousness snapped. Like a kite with its string cut, he wavered and collapsed.
“Dam Ho!”
Only then did Mu Gyeong and Han So Yu rush toward him.
Su Gyeong closed his eyes and raised his head. Liquid—whether sweat or tears, he could not tell—streamed down his brow.
At that moment, Hyeongeom Jinni’s voice rang through the arena.
“What are you doing? All losers are to exit Jinmugung at once.”
At that frost-laden command, the defeated disciples hoisted Dam Ho onto their shoulders and carried him out of Jinmugung.
Hyeongeom Jinni did not even turn to look back.
“The matches continue.”
“Yes, Master!”
Several of the sect’s senior disciples rushed into Hyeonso Jinni’s quarters. Across one of their backs lay Dam Ho, broken and battered beyond recognition.
Hyeonso Jinni sprang from his sitting platform in horror.
“Dam Ho! What has happened?”
“During the martial match…something went wrong…”
“A Martial Match? Is this how a Martial Match should look? Isn’t this the state of someone who’s crossed the Life-and-Death Threshold? What on earth has happened…. No, never mind. Lay him down at once.”
The disciples of the first generation rushed to lay Dam Ho on the bench.
Dam Ho’s condition was dire. No—it was catastrophic.
His breathing was shallow and labored, blood streaming continuously from his nose and mouth. It was almost a miracle that he remained alive in such a state.
“Dam… Ho! Can you hear me?”
Hyeonso Jinni’s voice trembled uncontrollably. Before the welfare of his sole disciple, Hyeonso Jinni’s equanimous heart was shaking without restraint.
Dam Ho did not answer. Or rather, could not. He was wavering at the threshold between life and death.
“Who in heaven’s name has done this to you?”
“Master, you must steady yourself.”
“Steady myself? Yes, I must steady myself.”
Hyeonso Jinni’s trembling hands fumbled through his robes. A small wooden box came free in his grip.
He opened the box, and dark medicinal pills revealed themselves. Without hesitation, Hyeonso Jinni dissolved a pill in water and carefully dripped it, bit by bit, into Dam Ho’s mouth.
“Dam Ho! You must live. Dam Ho! Where do you think you’re going, leaving your master behind?”
Once he had administered all the medicine, Hyeonso Jinni began urgently massaging Dam Ho’s entire body.
“Dam Ho, my boy! You wretched thing…….”
Hyeonso Jinni’s wail echoed across the night sky.

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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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