Fist Demon of Mount Hua - Chapter 84

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 83. Some things cannot be forgotten, no matter how many years pass—Part 2
Dam Ho and Bang Jin Bo returned to the Seo Pung Guest House.
“Ugh! I’m dying.”
The moment they entered the room, Bang Jin Bo collapsed onto the bed with a groan. In just half a day, too much had happened. It was too much for one so young to bear.
Bang Jin Bo fell asleep the instant his head touched the pillow.
Dam Ho sat in a chair and gazed out the window. Suddenly, something caught his eye. A note, neatly folded, was wedged in the window frame.
It hadn’t been there when he’d left at dawn. Dam Ho opened the window and drew out the note.
Only two characters were written on it.
Cheon Sang Ru.
Dam Ho’s fists clenched as he rose to his feet.
Confirming that Bang Jin Bo was deep asleep, Dam Ho slipped outside.
From the Seo Pung Guest House, he made his way toward the street where the pleasure houses clustered. His destination was none other than the Cheon Sang Ru.
At the entrance to the Cheon Sang Ru stood a familiar face—Un Jeong, the girl who had solicited him on his first visit.
At the sight of Dam Ho, Un Jeong’s expression shifted slightly.
“Is the proprietor here?”
“She’s waiting inside. Please follow me.”
Un Jeong led the way into the Cheon Sang Ru.
Dam Ho glanced about for a moment, then followed her inside.
“Welcome.”
Ki Ye Hwa greeted Dam Ho.
Dam Ho showed her the note in his hand.
“You sent this.”
“That’s right. I sent it.”
“Sounds like you’ve had some success.”
“To some extent. Now please, sit down.”
“Skip it. Just tell me.”
“As impatient as ever, I see. But won’t you sit? This story is rather long.”
“Then speak quickly.”
“Just as I predicted. I knew you’d react exactly like this.”
A smile played at the corners of Ki Ye Hwa’s mouth beneath her veil.
Dam Ho watched her in silence. His gaze was steady enough to unsettle anyone, yet that faint smile never left her lips.
“Seventeen or eighteen years ago, in Shaanxi Province—a gang of brigands with about thirty members. Their leader was a man in his fifties with a large scar on his left cheek. They’re the people you asked me to find. Am I right?”
“Did you find them?”
Dam Ho’s voice grew quiet. Instantly, the air in the room grew heavy as well.
Ki Ye Hwa’s expression changed slightly. The weight of that atmosphere seemed to press down upon her shoulders.
She moistened her lips before speaking.
“The people you’re looking for are almost certainly the Black Tiger Gang.”
“The Black Tiger Gang?”
“They were the bandits who controlled much of Shaanxi Province during that time. They were infamous for plundering villages, abducting women, and committing unspeakable atrocities. Every village they visited was left as though a plague had swept through—nothing remained.”
“Who was their leader?”
“The leader’s name is Jo Yun San. Just as you described, he has a large scar on his left cheek.”
The moment Ki Ye Hwa finished speaking, Dam Ho’s brow twitched. She did not miss this change.
For the first time, the man who had shown no emotion whatsoever now let slip a visible tremor of feeling.
“Jo… Yun San. Jo Yun San.”
Dam Ho repeated the name she had given him, as though etching it into his very bones never to be forgotten.
The desolation in that moment left Ki Ye Hwa unable to speak for some time.
“Where is he now?”
“I haven’t been able to discover his whereabouts.”
“Why not?”
“Fifteen years ago, he disbanded the Black Tiger Gang and disappeared.”
“He disappeared?”
“Yes. He simply disbanded the gang and vanished without a trace. There’s been no sign of him since.”
“So you’re telling me he can’t be found?”
In that instant, Ki Ye Hwa’s body trembled.
The killing intent woven through his words made her flesh quiver.
An overwhelming dread washed over her—as if she would die if she failed to give him the answer he desired. Every hair on her body stood on end.
Ki Ye Hwa quickly continued.
“Fortunately, I do know the whereabouts of one of the Black Tiger Gang members.”
“Speak! Where is he?”
“Telling you won’t be difficult. However…”
“In exchange?”
“There’s something I’d like you to do for me. If you do just that one thing, I’ll tell you where he is.”
Ki Ye Hwa proposed a bargain. She believed Dam Ho would listen to her terms.
But his answer shattered her expectations entirely.
“You’re under a misapprehension.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve already paid the price.”
“But that’s—”
“I despise those who break their word or attach conditions to it.”
All the windows in the room were sealed shut, not a crack for the wind to enter. Yet the silk veil covering Ki Ye Hwa’s face fluttered as though caught by an invisible breeze.
Through the veil, her features betrayed shock. She had never anticipated Dam Ho would release such killing intent so abruptly.
“Please, calm yourself, Master Dam!”
“Do as you wish. Attach your conditions if you like, break your word if it suits you. But then I’ll do as I please as well.”
Dam Ho rose from his seat.
“Gah!”
Blood trickled from Ki Ye Hwa’s lips. The killing intent Dam Ho radiated alone had inflicted internal injury upon her.
She fixed him with a look of barely concealed dread.
“How many people are in this place? Fifty? A hundred?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“I’ll hunt down every last one of them and put them to the sword. Young or old, it matters not. Every single one, until you’ve surrendered all that you know.”
“Even so, it won’t help. The Hao Wen bows to no threat.”
For all that Dam Ho’s presence bore down upon her, Ki Ye Hwa was a woman of hardened will—a branch administrator of the Hao Wen who would not easily yield to intimidation.
But her misfortune lay in her choice of opponent.
Dam Ho was not a man to look back once he had set his course, nor to retreat.
“It matters not. If I find no answers here, I’ll move to the next Hao Wen branch. Should I find nothing there, I’ll slaughter them all as well. And then I’ll find the next branch.”
“Do you truly think you can do this? Headquarters will issue a death order. Even you cannot endure that.”
“I told you—it matters not. Should I die in the attempt, should my limbs be severed, I don’t care. So long as I draw breath, I will kill one more of your kind. Try to stop me if you can.”
“Ah!”
Ki Ye Hwa found no words to speak.
She had never encountered a man like this. No negotiation, no bargain held any sway over Dam Ho. It seemed no words could sway him.
Cold sweat traced her spine.
In Dam Ho’s dark eyes, she saw her own reflection—no longer the confident visage she carried, but a stranger’s face flushed and wild with panic, glimpsed in those merciless eyes.
There was no time to judge that reflection. His killing intent grew with each passing breath.
“Miss!”
Seol Hui, who had hidden until now, could bear it no longer and threw herself forward to shield Ki Ye Hwa.
From her came an unmistakable will to protect—yet against a creature like Dam Ho, that steadfast resolve seemed pitifully small.
Dam Ho’s gaze fixed upon Seol Hui.
“We’ll start with you.”
A chill ran through her.
Without thinking, Seol Hui crossed her arms to shield her front.
Bang!
“Ugh!”
A strangled cry escaped her as her body rocketed backward. The Pa Seong Chui had struck true.
Both her arms swelled grotesquely as she flew.
Only because she’d concentrated her Internal Energy into her forearms did her arms—and her ribs—escape being crushed to splinters.
She struggled to plant her feet and halt her flight. But Dam Ho was faster.
Whoosh!
He closed the distance with terrifying speed.
Black hair whipped about him, dark eyes glinting between the strands—those terrible eyes reflecting her own terror back at her.
Against the storm of killing intent he unleashed, her frail form seemed to dissolve like morning mist.
“Hn!”
Without her volition, Seol Hui’s eyes shut tight.
Crack!
Dam Ho’s hand seized her collar. Her feet left the ground.
The Ji Cheon Gyeok was about to unfold.
“Wait! I’ll talk. Please, I’ll tell you everything—just stop!”
Ki Ye Hwa’s desperate cry pierced the air.
Whoosh!
The terrible wind that had threatened to flay the skin from her bones ceased as if it had never been. Seol Hui’s feet descended gently to the floor.
“I’ll tell you. Without any conditions.”
Only then did Dam Ho release his grip on Seol Hui’s collar and regard Ki Ye Hwa. She spoke hurriedly, fearing his resolve might waver.
“Not far from here, in Xiangyin, there’s a gambling house run by our organization. A man who boasts of belonging to the Black Tiger Gang frequents the place. If you find him, you’ll be able to learn the whereabouts of the others.”
“Xiangyin, you say?”
“If you hurry, you can reach it in a day.”
Ki Ye Hwa explained in detail how to find the gambling house, terrified that Dam Ho’s resolve might change.
She feared his martial prowess, but what truly frightened her was the man himself. She had spent years as the regional director of Hao Wen here, and before that, as a courtesan, she had witnessed countless types of humanity—yet none had ever unsettled her the way Dam Ho did.
A man with whom conversation and negotiation held no sway.
For someone like her, who maintained complex networks of human relationships to sustain a balance of power, he was the worst possible adversary.
“While I’m gone, protect Bang Jin Bo’s safety.”
“That is——”
“It’s not a request.”
“Understood.”
In the end, Ki Ye Hwa had no choice but to comply. There was no other way.
Dam Ho turned and walked out.
“Cough——”
Only then did Seol Hui hack dryly and collapse where she stood.
Ki Ye Hwa stared vacantly at the place where Dam Ho had vanished.
“I’ll need to completely reassess everything about him. His strength, his temperament, his decisiveness, his intellect—all of it far exceeds dangerous levels. One wrong move, and he could become Hao Wen’s worst enemy.”
“Miss——”
“Until orders come down from above, give him full cooperation for now.”
“Is that wise?”
“We have no choice. The one who shoots is far away, but he is at our doorstep. To preserve the lives of the one hundred and twenty people at Cheon Sang Ru, we have no option but to cooperate.”
“Very well.”
“Becoming his enemy is a matter for after we’ve secured a definitive countermeasure. Though I doubt such a thing exists.”
Ki Ye Hwa’s voice trembled with unease.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————