Chapter 253
Chapter 253
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 253
Chapter Title: There Is a Fist Demon in the Volcanic Sect (3)
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Boom!
The first to fly off like a bloody ragdoll was a warrior from the Mad Demon Hall. His face and upper body were smashed beyond recognition, as if struck by a massive boulder, and he rolled across the ground.
There was no scream, no resistance. The Damho trampled over his flesh-turned-corpse and launched his body forward.
Kwarung!
Another deafening roar erupted. This time, three or four Mad Demon Hall warriors were flung in all directions.
They were knocked back twice as fast as they had charged in.
There was no time to even grasp what was happening. Whenever the explosive sounds rang out, the Mad Demon Hall warriors were sent flying without so much as a cry.
It was like a massive storm raging through. Those caught in it lost their lives regardless of their martial prowess.
Whirrl!
A single stream of energy swirled around the Damho's body. It was the Storm Demon Realm, infused with explosive force.
Wrapped in the Storm Demon Realm, the Damho hurled his body at the enemy. Everything that touched his Storm Demon Realm exploded.
The sight of human flesh bursting like fireworks instilled horrific terror in the Demonic Cult warriors.
"Uwaaaah!"
"What kind of monster is that...?"
Some even discarded their weapons and fled. The Damho paid them no mind and shot forward in a straight line.
His target was Sanghancheon.
Instinct told him that slaying Sanghancheon would end this war today.
"Chaaat! Soul-Pursuing Cross Gang!"
Danhosaeng blocked the Damho's path. Danhosaeng's spear spat out sword energy.
Shooo!
In an instant, the Damho's body flickered like a candle flame. Though charging straight ahead, only his upper body swayed, evading every one of Danhosaeng's spear strikes.
"Huh!"
By the time Danhosaeng's eyes widened in shock, the Damho was already upon him.
The Damho unleashed the Five Finger Diamond Shatter. Just before his five fingers could adhere to Danhosaeng's chest, Danhosaeng barely managed to block with his spear shaft.
Thud!
"Kuhk!"
Danhosaeng was flung back along with his spear. The Damho pursued him at terrifying speed.
Black hair fluttering, emotionless eyes flashing between the strands. And reflected in those eyes, Danhosaeng's shocked face.
In that moment, the thought that flashed through Danhosaeng's mind was utterly unrelated.
'Wasn't he supposed to be lame? How can a cripple move like this?'
The Damho's imperfect left leg slammed into the ground. Using his left foot as a pivot, his right leg shot out in a straight line.
Swaeek!
It was a kicking technique on a completely different trajectory from the Blood Heaven Kick or Bullet Demon Kick he usually favored. Danhosaeng couldn't react in time. All he could do was concentrate his internal energy in his abdomen.
Danhosaeng didn't know. That this would be his greatest blunder.
Kwachik!
The Damho's leg pierced straight through Danhosaeng's abdomen. The internal energy gathered there was useless.
"Gulk!"
Danhosaeng's mouth gaped open at the electrifying pain surging from his gut.
It was the Charging Kick.
An advanced, perfected form of the Charging Step. The Charging Step that toppled city walls—focusing that immense power into a single point created the Charging Kick.
It was the Damho's unique kicking technique, distinct from his favored Bullet Demon Kick or Blood Heaven Kick. The fruit of countless sleepless nights for the Damho.
Danhosaeng's body crumbled like a sandcastle. Even as the light of life faded from his eyes, the doubt remained unresolved.
'How?'
Until his dying breath, Danhosaeng couldn't comprehend how he had died.
The Damho leaped over Danhosaeng and charged on. Darkness flickered in his eyes.
"This can't... be!"
Urgency flashed across Sanghancheon's face.
First Hwangryeol, now Danhosaeng. Even the Mad Demon Hall elites couldn't stop the Damho.
Everything he had trusted was collapsing.
The Damho approached relentlessly. Sanghancheon knew full well that he was the target.
"Bl-block him!"
A desperate cry escaped him unbidden.
Sanghancheon was always the coolest head, but not in this moment.
A strategist like Sanghancheon classified all people into categories and predicted their actions. Analyzing individuals based on their strength, personality, and various data, then devising countermeasures.
Never once had Sanghancheon's methods failed. Thus, he had blind faith in his approach.
But now, for the first time, a being defied his common sense. The Damho didn't fit into his defined categories or calculations.
The very existence of the Damho shattered his worldview at its roots. It was inevitable that this terrified him.
The Damho launched his body high into the air. What goes up must come down. As his body plummeted, he activated the Thousand-Jin Fall.
Swaeek!
With a tremendous whoosh, the Damho's body plunged straight toward Sanghancheon.
"Danger!"
At the critical moment, Ilmong scooped up Sanghancheon and urgently pulled him aside. The Damho's form crashed into the spot where Sanghancheon had stood.
Kwaaaang!
A heaven-shaking boom erupted, and a fearsome shockwave swept the area. Thick dust rose, obscuring everyone's vision.
Moments later, the wind blew the dust away, revealing a horrific scene.
A massive crater, fifty feet across, gaped like a meteor strike, surrounded by dozens of corpses. They were all warriors from Sanghancheon's strategist unit who had been guarding him.
Their bodies were mangled as if a thunderbolt bomb had detonated.
"Ugh!"
Sanghancheon let out a groan like a dying man at the unbelievable sight.
Until now, Sanghancheon had swayed the Demonic Cult with his brilliant mind alone. A single word from him had claimed hundreds of lives. But no death he had ordered compared to the horror unfolding before his eyes.
The Damho rose from the crater.
His body creaked all over. He had drawn vitality from the Life-Reversing Poison Pill, but it wasn't full recovery—just a temporary effect. Pushing his damaged body like this made every fiber scream.
Yet the Damho moved. An enemy stood before him.
"Uwaaaak!"
"D-devil!"
The Demonic Cult warriors in the area fled in panic.
A single fist-sized hole was enough to breach a massive dam. The Damho had punched that hole with his body.
"Take them down."
"Die!"
Volcanic Sect warriors and allied experts poured through the breach the Damho had created.
Those who had been pushed back now found courage and charged. Once the scales tipped, reversing them was no easy task.
The Damho's overwhelming presence dominated the battlefield. The bloody scent emanating from him was enough to numb minds.
A single master had turned the tide completely. Sanghancheon stared in disbelief.
"This can't be!"
"We must retreat."
Ilmong grabbed Sanghancheon's hand and pulled. Even as he was dragged away, Sanghancheon couldn't tear his eyes from the Damho.
"Fist... Demon."
Focus slowly returned to his once-clouded eyes.
Sanghancheon bit his lip until it bled.
'The core of the Volcanic Sect isn't Hyeoncheon or Hyeongeom or the like. It's the Fist Demon. He is the Volcanic Sect, and the Volcanic Sect is him. My greatest mistake was trying to predict them without accounting for him.'
A chill wind blew through his chest.
Even now, the Damho walked toward Sanghancheon.
Limping on his leg, yet never pausing for a moment. The sight was utterly terrifying—enough to plant fear in Sanghancheon, who had lived his life without knowing such emotion.
Sanghancheon looked around.
Smoke rose from various spots on the Volcanic Sect grounds. Countless had died. Most of the key figures he had targeted were slain. That alone achieved his objectives.
Sanghancheon turned and said,
"Retreat."
"Yes, my lord!"
Ilmong relayed Sanghancheon's order to the Demonic Cult warriors.
Retreat signals echoed from all around. The Demonic Cult warriors withdrew like the tide, all while blocking pursuits from the Damho and Volcanic Sect warriors.
The strategist unit's warriors threw themselves at the Damho to stop him.
"You shall not harm the strategist!"
Even as they fell to his fists, they clung to him till the end.
If one failed, two stepped up; if two fell, four followed. Dozens, then hundreds blocked his path.
While they held him, Sanghancheon retreated under Ilmong's protection, descending the Volcanic Sect mountain.
'I'll let you go for now, but I will repay this humiliation.'
Sanghancheon's eyes gleamed colder than ever.
The Damho's steps halted.
Srrrrk!
The body of the last warrior clinging to him collapsed. Along the path he had taken, corpses of those who had blocked him lay thick. A scene of unimaginable tragedy.
The chill in the Damho's eyes deepened further.
Chasing Sanghancheon further was pointless. He had already escaped under the protection of his warriors.
"Cheonkyeong."
"Uncle Master!"
Surviving Volcanic Sect warriors gathered around the Damho.
Barely dozens remained. The Hyeon generation elders had been wiped out, over half the Gyeong generation direct disciples dead or wounded. The losses among the weaker E generation were incalculable.
Fortunately, True Person Hyeoncheon's quick decision had allowed Myeongkyeong and Han Soyu to protect the third-generation disciples, but their skills were still sorely lacking.
Thus, the Volcanic Sect's vitality and forces were severely damaged. Regaining their former glory would take decades.
The Volcanic Sect disciples wept. More than the sect's fall, it was the deaths of their masters and senior brothers that grieved them.
They had no leisure to worry about the sect's future. Clutching their masters' corpses, calling their seniors' names, they wept. But one, Ungyeong, could not.
The responsibilities left to him were too great to simply let go and cry.
The Volcanic Sect was everything to him. With it in utter ruin, he alone had to pull himself together and face reality.
The Volcanic Sect needed a focal point now.
'Cheonkyeong.'
Ungyeong's gaze turned to the Damho.
***
The day the Volcanic Sect was attacked, the Murim Alliance headquarters at Lake Dongting's 악양 also faced a raid.
Two of the Seven Great Demons—Swift Wind Divine Fist Lee Seon-chang and Iron Chain Divine Whip Yun Gwang—led hundreds of elites in the assault. Acting on separate orders from Sanghancheon, they struck a major blow to the headquarters.
It happened while Alliance Strategist Namgungchang had taken main forces to Shaolin Temple. Fortunately, Alliance Leader Namcheonsan and Vice Leader Jo Uimyeong repelled the Demonic Cult raid, but morale plummeted as a result.
Zhongnan fell, the Volcanic Sect suffered massive losses, and now the Alliance headquarters was hit. A defeat etched into history.
The righteous faction's momentum was crushed. Yet amid it all, one ray of hope remained.
Fist Demon Damho.
His overwhelming martial feat at the Volcanic Sect spread through the righteous experts who witnessed it.
The man who single-handedly saved the Volcanic Sect from annihilation.
He slew four of the Seven Great Demons alone and slaughtered countless Demonic Cult warriors, forcing their retreat.
In an era of utter darkness with no hope in sight, he alone shone brilliantly.
Thus, the legend of the Fist Demon resounded across the land.