Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: 5. Reunion After a Long Time, But the Heart Is No Longer the Same (3)
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Han So-yu stared fixedly at Dam Ho.
Tears were already welling up in her eyes.
She couldn't be certain.
But seeing Dam Ho limp on one leg, she had wondered if perhaps it was him.
Yet when her suspicion turned out to be true, she felt an intense confusion instead.
"You're alive. Then why didn't you return to Mount Hua Sect? Everyone was so worried about you."
"Really?"
"What?"
"Were they really all worried about me?"
"……."
Han So-yu's words caught in her throat at Dam Ho's chilling question.
Only then did she realize it.
The gaze Dam Ho fixed on her was utterly cold.
It held no emotion whatsoever.
It was the blank stare one might give a complete stranger with no connection.
That look felt strangely terrifying.
"Cheon-gyeong."
"What about my master?"
"Your martial uncle is doing well……."
Dam Ho nodded at Han So-yu's response.
It was the one thing he'd most wanted to hear until now.
For Dam Ho, that was enough.
As long as she was safe, they would meet again someday.
Dam Ho turned and looked at Eun So-cheong.
"Let's go."
"Cheon-gyeong!"
At that moment, a thunderous voice rang in Dam Ho's ears.
When Dam Ho turned, Hyun-mu Daoist was glaring at him.
Hyun-mu Daoist's voice boomed through the Ak-yang Sword Sect hall.
"Are you Cheon-gyeong? If so, how dare you not show respect to your sect's elder?"
Most of the warriors in the hall nodded in agreement.
In the jianghu, seniority within a sect was clearer than anywhere else.
Those of lower rank must show utmost respect to their sect elders.
Once one became a disciple of a sect, they could never be free from these hierarchies.
Even Myeong-gyeong, now hailed as Mount Hua Sect's top prodigy, had been merely a lay disciple twelve years ago.
His status had been lower than even the second-generation disciples.
But when Hyeon-so Daoist accepted him as a disciple, everything changed.
He became a first-generation disciple, and the second-generation ones called him martial uncle.
That was the jianghu's hierarchy, the sect's order.
So Hyun-mu Daoist's anger was justified.
If Dam Ho was truly a Mount Hua Sect disciple, he should have first paid respects to him, an elder of the sect.
Dam Ho's eyes darkened deeply.
In that instant, Hyun-mu Daoist, who had shouted so boldly, shrank back like a startled turtle.
The gaze Dam Ho fixed on Hyun-mu Daoist was pitch black, devoid of any trace of emotion.
Yet it was unmistakably not friendly.
Hyun-mu Daoist felt chills creeping up his spine.
He had stepped forward confidently at the mention of a sect disciple, but Dam Ho's overwhelming presence made him shrink involuntarily.
The crowd held their breath, watching Dam Ho and Hyun-mu Daoist.
They were still gripped by the intense impression Dam Ho had just made.
They were dominated by his lingering aura.
'The Fist Demon…… was a Mount Hua Sect disciple.'
'Who else but a famed sect like Mount Hua could raise someone like that?'
If Dam Ho joined Mount Hua Sect, its destructive power would be unimaginably immense.
They marveled at Mount Hua Sect's foundation while watching the unfolding situation with wary eyes.
Dam Ho said nothing, merely staring at Hyun-mu Daoist.
This made the pressure on Hyun-mu Daoist even greater.
That brief silence felt like an eternity to Hyun-mu Daoist.
So he shouted.
"Why do you say nothing? Do you find your sect's elder laughable?"
"My sect……."
At last, Dam Ho opened his heavy mouth.
Everyone waited with bated breath for his next words.
What followed plunged the hall into chaos.
"For me, there is a master, but no sect."
"What nonsense is that?"
"Denying your sect?"
Not just Hyun-mu Daoist, but the entire hall erupted in murmurs.
Everyone present belonged to the Nine Great Sects or Five Great Families, the jianghu's top powers.
To them, their sect was a cradle that must never be betrayed, a grave.
It was their beginning and end, their entire life.
Denying one's sect was unthinkable.
It was tantamount to destroying one's own place in the jianghu.
They glared at Dam Ho with furious eyes.
Hyun-mu Daoist's beard trembled.
"Are you denying Mount Hua Sect right now? After learning martial arts there, how can you say that?"
He was genuinely enraged.
From Hyun-mu Daoist's perspective, it was incomprehensible and unacceptable.
Mount Hua Sect was his entire life.
For a mere disciple to deny it.
It wasn't just insulting a sect elder—it denied Mount Hua Sect and the jianghu's order entirely.
"You must have found Mount Hua Sect laughable. Mount Hua Sect is……."
"Don't force your beliefs on me."
"You dare……."
"It was Mount Hua Sect that abandoned me."
"What do you……."
"You don't know, do you?"
Dam Ho's voice sank as deeply as his eyes.
It was so chilling that Hyun-mu Daoist couldn't press further.
Instead, memories from twelve years ago flashed in his mind.
After returning from the Western Regions, his senior brother Hyeon-so Daoist had secluded himself, while Mu-gyeong and Un-gyeong remained silent.
When Mount Hua Sect elders questioned them, they said nothing.
So no one knew what had happened that day.
'What on earth happened that day?'
Dam Ho looked at the pondering Hyun-mu Daoist with amusement.
A sneer curled at his lips.
"Curious?"
"……."
"Then ask that gentleman over there."
Dam Ho's gaze turned to Cheong-heo Daoist, who stood dazed in one corner.
When their eyes met, Cheong-heo Daoist flinched.
Among all the warriors here, Cheong-heo Daoist had suffered the greatest shock upon Dam Ho's appearance.
He alone knew the truth of that day.
Not a single non-expert had been there, yet in their desperation to save their own lives, they had abandoned Dam Ho.
That memory remained a shame for him.
Even though it was to save his disciple Yeon So-ha, he couldn't escape the pangs of conscience.
He still occasionally dreamed of the moment he was buried alive, leaving Dam Ho alone.
That day's memory lingered as a nightmare.
All eyes turned to Cheong-heo Daoist.
But he couldn't speak frankly.
Revealing it would tarnish not just Mount Hua Sect, but also Wudang and Zhongnan Sects' reputations.
So Cheong-heo Daoist clamped his lips shut.
Dam Ho wasn't surprised by this reaction.
"I figured as much."
"……."
Dam Ho turned away.
He had no more business here.
He didn't care how they looked at him.
From the day twelve years ago when he was isolated from the world, he had stopped minding others' gazes.
He didn't care how the world saw him or what they said.
They were them, and he was himself.
Those ignorant of the circumstances, like Hyun-mu Daoist or Mount Hua Sect disciples, had no choice but to stay silent.
But not everyone was like Hyun-mu Daoist.
"To dare deny your sect—you're clearly a fiend of the outer paths."
Zhongnan Sect elder Jin Do-gyeong bellowed.
He had immense pride in Zhongnan Sect and was equally rigid.
Though it wasn't his sect's affair, seeing Dam Ho deny his sect filled him with rage.
Dam Ho's words didn't just deny Mount Hua Sect—they rejected the jianghu's entire order.
"One who denies their sect has no place in the jianghu."
"No matter how wrong the sect was, how can a disciple deny it?"
Several voices joined Jin Do-gyeong's.
As their voices grew louder, the hall turned into a condemnation of Dam Ho.
Jin Do-gyeong stepped forward, pointing accusingly.
"If you have any sense, kneel before your sect elder and beg forgiveness. That's the only way to atone for your sins…… Ack!"
Kwachik!
In an instant, Dam Ho's fist slammed into Jin Do-gyeong's mouth.
Teeth shattered, lips mangled.
Jin Do-gyeong clutched his mouth and collapsed in place.
His face was a mess of tears and blood.
"Elder!"
Zhongnan Sect disciples rushed forward madly.
Kwang!
At that moment, Dam Ho's fist crashed into the青石 floor.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
Centering on the fist buried up to the wrist, the青石 exploded.
Powerful energy spread in concentric waves, along with flying shards of stone.
It was like a thunderbolt grenade detonating.
"Keok!"
"Ugh!"
Zhongnan Sect disciples were struck by the stones and swept by the energy wave, tumbling disgracefully in all directions.
Dam Ho didn't even glance at them.
His gaze was fixed solely on Jin Do-gyeong.
Jin Do-gyeong's face twisted in pain and humiliation.
He hadn't expected Dam Ho to punch him without warning.
He tried to charge at Dam Ho.
But in that moment, their eyes met head-on.
Brrr!
Every hair on his body stood on end.
'If I attack, I'll die.'
The thought struck him suddenly.
Only then did he recall how Dam Ho had single-handedly slaughtered the Golden Horse Lions and Blood Chain Ghosts that had given them such trouble.
It meant that even if everyone here attacked together, victory wasn't guaranteed.
He had provoked such a being.
Surviving was fortunate.
His pride shattered, waves of humiliation crashed over him.
But he couldn't move.
Moving now would surely mean death.
It wasn't mere intuition—it was certainty.
So he couldn't move.
Dam Ho looked at Jin Do-gyeong and spoke.
"Try spouting off once more. Next time, I'll rip your head off."
"Eek!"
Jin Do-gyeong involuntarily shrank back like a turtle.
Though Zhongnan Sect's elder and sect's honor hit rock bottom, no one watching could laugh.
His plight felt all too real.
Dam Ho rose.
Countless gazes upon him.
Some held contempt, others fear.
One thing was clear: few were friendly.
Only Eun So-cheong, Cho Yeon-un, and Hae So-wol looked at him with goodwill.
Dam Ho turned to Hyun-mu Daoist.
Hyun-mu Daoist flinched.
He had just witnessed Jin Do-gyeong's fate with his own eyes.
Normal conventions didn't apply to him.
Not his Mount Hua Sect origins, nor jianghu hierarchies could bind him.
The only possibility was his master, Hyeon-so Daoist.
But Hyeon-so Daoist had been absent for nearly a decade.
Currently, no method existed to force Dam Ho.
Unless he bowed willingly.
In that moment, Dam Ho declared.
"My name is Dam Ho. I walk alone. I am a free man belonging to no sect."
His shout echoed thunderously through the Ak-yang Sword Sect.