Fist Demon of Mount Hua ( Novel ) - Chapter 273
Chapter 273 – The More Wicked the Karma, the More Persistent It Is (2)
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Discord
Darkness comes early in deep mountains. Few spaces instill as much fear in people as mountains shrouded in darkness. Especially when even insect sounds and animal cries have ceased.
In such deep mountains, a single bonfire was burning. Sitting before the bonfire was a young man with a pale complexion.
The young man stirred the embers of the bonfire with a long branch. This caused the bonfire to burn more fiercely. Sparks flew to his head, but the young man paid no attention and continued stirring the coals. Then, the blade of a dagger covered by the coals revealed itself.
Having been covered by coals for a long time, the dagger’s blade was glowing red-hot.
“Damn it!”
The young man muttered as he grasped the dagger’s handle with a hand tightly wrapped in cloth. The heat of the red-hot dagger was vividly transmitted to his palm through the cloth.
Though his hand felt hot enough to be burned, the young man did not discard the dagger. Instead, with his free hand, he lifted his clothes. This revealed a wound on his side that was split open like the gills of a fish.
It was a severe wound that would have torn his internal organs if it had been just a bit deeper. The wound was so deep that it wouldn’t even stop bleeding.
The young man muttered as he looked at the wound.
“I really don’t want to do this…”
Taking a deep breath, the young man placed the red-hot dagger against the wound on his side.
Sizzle!
As the wound melted under the heat of the dagger, white smoke rose.
“Arrrgh!”
The young man’s waist bent like a shrimp as he let out a beast-like groan. The pain was so severe that his eyes lost focus and foam formed at his mouth.
Thud!
Finally, after cauterizing the entire wound, the young man dropped the dagger and collapsed to the ground, his body trembling. The pain that resonated to his very soul made him unable to breathe properly, only gasping.
How much time passed like this? After lying sprawled for quite some time, the young man finally managed to raise his body.
“Ugh!”
A scream involuntarily escaped as he moved his body.
The bleeding from the wound had stopped, but the pain from the burn had not yet subsided.
As the young man carefully lowered his clothes that he had lifted with effort while enduring the pain, it happened.
“Shin Moo-wol!”
Suddenly, a loud shout reverberated through the night sky.
Swoosh!
Following that, a crimson sword energy cut through the darkness and flew toward him.
“Damn it!”
The young man quickly grabbed the scabbard he had set aside by the bonfire and dodged.
Boom!
Immediately after he leaped, the sword energy fell onto the bonfire. Burning branches scattered in all directions, and sparks flew.
Having narrowly avoided the attack, the young man hurriedly slung the scabbard on his back. This revealed a peacock-shaped scabbard. Five swords were visible on the scabbard.
In the world, only one person possessed such a scabbard.
He was none other than Shin Moo-wol, the Peacock Ghost Sword. His crisis was not yet over.
Swoosh!
Crimson sword energy continued to fly from the darkness.
Shin Moo-wol deployed his footwork to avoid the sword energy and quickly drew his sword.
“Blood Mist Squad. To think they’d chase me this far.”
Shin Moo-wol gritted his teeth.
The sword ghosts attacking while hiding in the darkness were the Blood Mist Squad, among the elite of the Demon Cult.
They were mainly tasked with purging traitors within the Demon Cult. As such, their martial arts were excellent, especially in stealth, tracking, and poison techniques.
They ambushed Shin Moo-wol at all hours, tormenting him. The first few times were bearable, but with the continuous ambushes, Shin Moo-wol was in a state of mental and physical exhaustion.
The wound on his side was also inflicted by the Blood Mist Squad. How desperate must he have been to cauterize the wound with fire to stop the bleeding?
“Do you think you can escape from our hands? Traitor.”
“Who’s the traitor? Rather, it’s you who are the traitors, committing sins by exploiting the Divine Cult.”
Shin Moo-wol shouted angrily as he swung his sword.
Clang!
They clashed in the darkness.
Sparks flew in all directions, and sword energies chaotically intersected.
“Ugh!”
“Gurk!”
Someone’s scream echoed, and blood splattered in all directions.
In the meantime, Shin Moo-wol drew another sword.
“Cross Heaven Opening. Haaaa!”
Two swords crossed in an X-shape and released sword energy.
With the intense cross-shaped sword energy, the darkness momentarily receded, and the area became as bright as day. Along with this, the sword ghosts of the Blood Mist Squad, who had been hiding in the darkness to ambush, were momentarily revealed.
“Ugh!”
“Scatter!”
As the Blood Mist Squad panicked and scattered, Shin Moo-wol swung his hand widely.
Swoosh!
The two swords left his hand and rotated. With his exquisite flying sword technique, more than ten members of the Blood Mist Squad lost their lives in an instant.
The Blood Mist Squad members who barely avoided the attack scattered in all directions like grasshoppers, and the swords, after spraying a shower of blood, made a large arc in the air and returned to Shin Moo-wol’s hand.
Swish!
Shin Moo-wol sheathed the two recovered swords in the peacock scabbard and leaped into the darkness. His figure quickly disappeared into the darkness.
“He’s escaping.”
“Track him!”
Belatedly, the Blood Mist Squad pursued him.
At that moment, a middle-aged man dressed in red martial attire walked out from the darkness. With a triangular face reminiscent of a viper and long, slit eyes that were particularly venomous, he was none other than Cho Moo-yang, the leader of the Blood Mist Squad.
Cho Moo-yang bent down and examined the ground. Though the bonfire had gone out and the surroundings were dark, his excellent internal energy allowed him to see clearly in the darkness.
Droplets of blood were scattered on the ground.
Cho Moo-yang dipped his finger in a blood droplet and brought it to his nose.
“Severely wounded, Shin Moo-wol.”
A sinister smile spread across his face.
***
The poet Li Bai of the era once said that climbing the Shu Road was more difficult than ascending to the heavens. The Shu Road was that treacherous and dangerous. Narrow paths precariously crossing the middle of cliffs were common, and some places even passed through mountain peaks that pierced the sky.
“Phew!”
Eum Yu-kyung suddenly looked back and let out a soft sigh.
The numerous mountains overlapping in layers looked just like waves rippling. Despite having crossed so many mountains, they had not yet traversed even half of the Shu Road… Her heart was urgent, but the fact that there was still a long way to go made her weary.
She had abandoned her horse long ago. Crossing the treacherous Shu Road on horseback was by no means an easy task.
Unlike Eum Yu-kyung, Dam-ho had not abandoned Black Ghost. For Black Ghost, even the treacherous Shu Road was not a problem. Black Ghost’s muscles had stronger elasticity than mountain goats that lived in deep mountains. Thanks to this, it could run on rough terrain as if it were flat ground.
Seeing Black Ghost like this, Eum Yu-kyung was simply amazed.
‘Like master, like horse. It has transcended the limits of its species.’
It seemed as if the horse was growing as much as its master was growing.
Eum Yu-kyung suddenly stopped walking. It was because of the fantastic scenery that unfolded before her eyes.
“Ah!”
An exclamation naturally burst from her lips.
A scenery that seemed like it could only be seen in paintings was spread out before her eyes. An endless sea of pure white clouds stretched out. The sea of clouds, undulating like a living organism, gave Eum Yu-kyung a strange sense of inspiration.
Eum Yu-kyung stared blankly at the sea of clouds for a long time.
‘The world is so beautiful, yet I cannot escape from the shackles of blood. When will I be able to escape from such shackles? This is surely not what the Founder intended when creating our sect.’
Eum Yu-kyung shook her head and broke free from her contemplation.
Looking to the side, she saw Dam-ho standing still. When Eum Yu-kyung stopped, he too had halted his steps.
Firmly closed lips and deeply sunken eyes.
From his face alone, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
“Sigh!”
Eum Yu-kyung sighed and moved on. Dam-ho also moved. Black Ghost followed behind.
One man, one woman, one horse walked the Shu Road like this.
They walked during the day and slept outdoors at night. After walking like this for five days, they finally reached the end of the Shu Road, which had seemed like it would never end.
Eum Yu-kyung suddenly looked back at the path they had traversed. A scenery as beautiful as a painting was spread out. However, the treachery hidden within was indescribable.
‘Just like our lives. It might look splendid on the outside, but inside, bloody battles occur every day.’
The journey on the Shu Road made Eum Yu-kyung think about many things. Perhaps because of this, Eum Yu-kyung felt that she had matured a lot.
Eum Yu-kyung suddenly looked at Dam-ho.
During the journey to this place, Dam-ho had been mostly silent. He only answered with a word or two when Eum Yu-kyung spoke to him, otherwise, he never opened his mouth. So, she couldn’t know what Dam-ho was thinking.
With a complex state of mind, Eum Yu-kyung moved on. After passing through Sword Gate Pass, which could be considered the end of the Shu Road, and walking for quite some time, they were finally able to reach their destination, Guangyuan.
Guangyuan was centered around the confluence of the Jialing River flowing from the north and the South River flowing from the east, with the city area formed around it.
Thanks to abundant water and fertile land, agriculture thrived, and minerals were also abundant, making Guangyuan a very wealthy city.
The streets were cleanly decorated, and the attire of people walking the streets was quite neat. The level of the city of Guangyuan could be inferred through their appearance.
Eum Yu-kyung said to Dam-ho:
“Today, we can sleep in a comfortable place.”
Her face showed clear signs of fatigue.
No matter how strong her internal energy or how extreme her martial arts, she was still a woman. The long outdoor sleeping was enough to make her mentally tired.
She wanted to sleep on a soft bed in a clean inn, at least for today, and take a bath in a hot tub.
Eum Yu-kyung’s eyes caught a fairly large inn. Located in a bustling area where the main roads intersected, the inn looked very clean at a glance.
“Let’s stay at that inn.”
“Hmm!”
Dam-ho nodded.
As they approached the inn, a servant boy rushed over.
“Welcome.”
The servant boy, who looked to be only about twelve years old, had very bright eyes.
Dam-ho handed the reins of Black Ghost to the servant boy.
“Put this one in a separate stable, and give it plenty of beans and hay.”
“Yes! Don’t worry. Our inn always takes care of our guests’ horses with sincerity.”
The servant boy answered energetically and looked at Black Ghost.
The appearance of Black Ghost, with its black glossy coat, was enough to evoke admiration.
“Wow! What a magnificent horse. I’ve never seen a horse like this before.”
The servant boy stared at Black Ghost, entranced.
Working at the inn, he naturally met many people and had to see the horses they rode. Among them were horses called famous steeds, but none of them could compare to Black Ghost, whose reins he was now holding.
‘Truly the king of horses, a horse among horses.’
The servant boy’s shoulders unconsciously straightened with pride.
Watching the servant boy lead Black Ghost to the stable, the two entered the inn. As they entered, the innkeeper rushed over.
“Welcome.”
“Do you have rooms available?”
“Of course.”
“Then please give us two. And also prepare a meal.”
“Well…”
“Is there a problem?”
“I can give you rooms, but if you want to dine, you’ll have to share a table with others.”
“What?”
Eum Yu-kyung frowned and looked around. The first-floor dining area was so packed with guests that no empty seats were visible.
“I’m sorry.”
The innkeeper didn’t know what to do.
That’s when it happened.
“Please join us.”
A strange voice came from one corner of the dining area. Turning their heads, they saw two men and one woman looking at them.
A young martial artist in fancy attire, a girl with an impressive smile, and a middle-aged martial artist with a cold impression. Among them, the young martial artist in fancy attire was staring intently at Eum Yu-kyung.