Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: There Exists Pain Worse Than Death (3)
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* * *
Ting-ting!
The tiny needles fell to the ground with a clatter, as if blocked by an invisible wall.
In the span of a single breath—like the flutter of a beetle's wings—Damho's body vibrated dozens, hundreds of times. For a split second, his form blurred before their eyes.
"Huh!"
Left Emissary Chung had never witnessed such a bizarre sight. He involuntarily gasped, sucking in a deep breath.
In that instant, Damho's body shot forward like a battering ram.
It was a siege weapon designed to shatter castle walls made of thousand-year-old rock. Now amplified by the Piercing Fortress Palm.
Crunch!
The iron bars forged from darksteel shattered like dry reeds.
It was something beyond Left Emissary Chung's comprehension—something that simply shouldn't have been possible.
"St-stop him!"
Left Emissary Chung shouted urgently as he retreated.
His subordinates fired the Death-Defying Soul-Severing Needles once more. Over a hundred minuscule needles swarmed toward Damho.
These Death-Defying Soul-Severing Needles were so fine they were nearly invisible to the naked eye. To any ordinary martial artist, they were a calamity of unimaginable power.
But to Damho, who had mastered the Shield, they were utterly useless.
Whirr!
Damho deployed his Shield again. The tiny needles failed to penetrate and dropped harmlessly to the floor.
Countless needles scattered across the ground.
Boom!
In that moment, Damho's foot slammed down with ferocious force. The needles on the floor were swept upward into the air like dust caught in a gale.
Whoosh!
Damho expelled qi from every pore in his body. The airborne needles caught the wind and reversed course, hurtling back toward his foes.
The martial artists clutching the cylinders suddenly found themselves pelted by their own Death-Defying Soul-Severing Needles.
"Argh!"
"Ugh!"
Those struck screamed in agony. The skin where the needles lodged melted away, exposing bone beneath. It was a terrifying display of destructive power.
The chamber descended into pandemonium in an instant.
"Wh-what?"
The jailer blinked in shock.
The scene before him—his fellow martial artists melting into bloody puddles—felt utterly unreal.
Whoosh!
The powerful gust whipped up by Damho brushed past him.
Crack!
In a flash, the jailer's head burst like tofu. His headless body flailed briefly before collapsing.
The jailer never realized he was dead, even in his final moment. Perhaps that was a mercy. The others' deaths were far less merciful.
Boom!
Damho's strike crumpled a man's body like paper and sent it flying skyward.
By the time the remaining martial artists shook off their daze and attempted to counterattack, Damho was already in their midst.
"Huh?"
Damho swung his palm toward empty air, channeling immense inner power.
Craaaack!
"Urk!"
"Guh!"
Around him, within a three-zhang radius, blood erupted from eardrums and nostrils.
Severing Air Wall.
A technique that struck the seams of the air to unleash shockwaves.
An evolution of the Shield, inspired by its principles.
He had theorized it was possible, but this was the first time deploying it in practice.
In an instant, over twenty martial artists perished, blood streaming from their noses and ears. Confined within the three-walled cave, the technique's power amplified dramatically.
The Severing Air Wall didn't just claim lives. It ravaged the Golden Horse Shackles binding his limbs.
These restraints, forged from the world's hardest thousand-year darksteel, tore and split like paper.
Damho twisted his wrists, and the shackles shattered effortlessly. The ones on his ankles fared no better.
The sole survivor was Left Emissary Chung, who had fled to the cave entrance.
"Hic! H-how?"
Terror etched across Left Emissary Chung's face.
The men he had brought were elite experts even among the Black Water Stronghold. Yet they were massacred without mounting a single defense.
The nightmare scene, too horrific even for dreams, bleached his mind white.
His usually sharp wits deserted him, leaving him frozen and indecisive.
Meanwhile, Damho approached.
He limped slightly on his left leg, an otherworldly sight. By the time Left Emissary Chung regained his senses, Damho stood right before him.
Crunch!
Damho's fist slammed into his side without warning.
"Guuaaagh!"
Pain lancing through his body arched Left Emissary Chung like a shrimp.
Unknown to the world, Left Emissary Chung's martial prowess was formidable. Few in the bandit world could threaten his life.
Yet even he couldn't muster the will to resist.
It wasn't a gap in skill. Damho's overwhelming presence and suffocating killing intent had shattered his fighting spirit.
Left Emissary Chung gaped and gurgled.
Damho seized his jaw and forced the bowl in his hand to the man's lips.
"Urk! N-no...!"
Terror flared in Left Emissary Chung's eyes. He shook his head in futile resistance, but Damho's iron grip held firm.
Blood Dew Pill Intestine-Shredder porridge poured into his gaping mouth. He couldn't close it. In the end, Left Emissary Chung swallowed it all.
"Grrgh!"
Released, he writhed on the ground.
Agony like knives slashing his guts surged through him.
"Blugh!"
Vomiting brought up blood mingled with shredded entrails. Blood streamed from his bulging eyes.
The name Blood Dew Pill Intestine-Shredder proved apt. The irony? Left Emissary Chung had procured it himself.
Now, his own poison was killing him.
He looked up at Damho.
"Pl-please... spare..."
"No need to feel hard done by. At least it's easier than Jo Yun-san's fate."
Damho stepped past him.
Left Emissary Chung reached out to grab his leg, but his trembling hand wouldn't obey.
"Gaaaaah!"
Leaving the man's final scream behind, Damho advanced.
Beyond the narrow ledge snaking along the mountainside from the Repentance Cave entrance, a crowd of martial artists clustered.
They were Left Emissary Chung's reinforcements, brought as a precaution.
Chilling screams echoed from the Repentance Cave. The men outside exchanged uneasy glances, clueless to the horror within.
"What the hell is going on?"
At that moment, a figure emerged from the cave mouth.
A man in black robes, radiating a sinister aura that chilled the soul—Damho.
"Gasp!"
"D-don't tell me everyone who went in was wiped out?"
Their unease ballooned like a snowball.
"Everyone, stay calm! Block the ledge—that's all we need!"
So Myeong-ung, leader of the reinforcements, bellowed to quell the panic. But the unrest spread like a plague, refusing to subside.
"Gaaaaah!"
Left Emissary Chung's scream peaked one last time, then cut off abruptly. The men's fear deepened, and Damho drew steadily closer.
He still limped.
Planting his right foot firmly, dragging the left.
That irregular gait fanned their dread into flames.
"Uwaaaah!"
"W-we have to run!"
Some discarded their weapons and bolted.
"You think the stronghold chief will let you live if you flee? Dead or alive, we stop him! You bastards!"
So Myeong-ung swung his weapon and roared. Many snapped to attention and turned to face Damho.
In that instant, Damho looked up at them.
Eyes black as voids, devoid of any light.
Gazing into those abyss-like depths—gateways to hell, barren of emotion—their bodies froze like statues.
Frogs before a snake, deer before a tiger: natural predator and prey.
Their bodies trembled like aspen leaves under Damho's gaze.
Escape was inconceivable.
Damho crooked a finger at So Myeong-ung.
So Myeong-ung bowed his head.
Resignation dawned on his face.
Like a man ensnared by sorcery, he shuffled toward Damho. Like a cow knowingly marching to the butcher.
So Myeong-ung gritted his teeth, willing resistance. But Damho's presence dominated his very soul.
He wasn't alone. Everyone present quailed under Damho's aura, paralyzed.
Damho spoke.
"Where is Jo Yun-san?"
"At... the stronghold chief's quarters... P-please, spare us. W-we're innocent."
So Myeong-ung begged.
His pants darkened with urine. He had wet himself.
Yet he remained oblivious, pleading on.
He didn't want to die.
No, not like a dog, at least.
He wasn't born to perish in some nameless mountain ravine.
He believed he was destined for greatness.
Born for bigger things, confident he would achieve them. That's why he followed Jo Yun-san, never once regretting it.
Until coming here, that is.
Damho's indifferent voice echoed.
"You said the same back then."
"Pardon?"
"Your neighbor—the brother next door. He begged you. Pleaded to be spared."
"Wh-what?"
"You laughed at him pissing his pants. 'You pathetic shit! Show some real will to live!' That's what you said."
So Myeong-ung couldn't comprehend Damho's words.
Damho spoke as if he knew him from before. But So Myeong-ung swore he'd never seen the man.
How could he forget such a face... such a terrifying presence?
A man unforgettable after one glance.
That man was Damho.
"Doesn't ring a bell, huh."
"Th-that..."
So Myeong-ung's expression crumpled, on the verge of tears.
"Yeah, that's how it goes. Victims carry scars forever, while perpetrators sleep soundly, forgetting it ever happened."
"H-hero! I swear I don't know you!"
"My name is Damho. You call me the Fist Demon."
"I know that, but..."
"The sole survivor of that little village at the foot of Mount Taibai, massacred by the Black Tiger Squad."
"Then...?"
So Myeong-ung's head snapped up.
A long-buried memory resurfaced.
Damho smiled.
"Now you get it? Why you're dying."
"Uwaaaah!"
As So Myeong-ung screamed, Damho's fist smashed into his mouth.
Teeth shattered wholesale as the fist drove inward.
"Grrgh!"
"I told you back then. Not a single one of you would survive."
Damho's chilling voice pierced So Myeong-ung's eardrums.
It all came flooding back.
The boy who scarred Jo Yun-san's face, who slew his comrades—a little demon.
Now that demon had become a monster, standing before him.
*Spare me!*
He begged inwardly. But his voice echoed only in his mouth, trapped.
Boom!
His head exploded, brains splattering everywhere.
"Uwaaaah!"
The watching martial artists scattered like startled grasshoppers.
Hell had begun.