Chapter 65
Chapter 65
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: If You Covet What Belongs to Others, You Must Stake Your Own Treasures (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Guhhh!”
Someone covered in blood was rolling on the floor of the annex building. The blue stone floor was stained red.
Jang Hak-kyeong and the others blinked in disbelief.
It had all happened in an instant. Even with eyes in their heads, they hadn’t seen what had gone down.
“S-Senior Brother?”
Mun Su-kyeong’s voice trembled involuntarily.
The one rolling on the floor, drenched in blood, was none other than her senior brother, Jwa Sang-cheon.
Standing before Jwa Sang-cheon was Damho.
No one knew what had happened. Jwa Sang-cheon had struck first, yet he was the one sprawled on the ground.
“Urk!”
Blood and bile spewed from Jwa Sang-cheon’s mouth.
In a single strike, Jwa Sang-cheon—the head disciple of the Hyunhyeon Sect—had been rendered helpless. It was only thanks to his orthodox inner energy protecting his body that he’d survived; otherwise, that one blow would have pulverized his internals.
Damho stood before Jwa Sang-cheon. Struggling, Jwa Sang-cheon looked up at him. His eyes were bloodshot, veins burst and filling the whites entirely.
“Guh!”
The world had turned entirely red. Damho stood at its center.
He couldn’t focus his vision. Damho’s form doubled and tripled, overlapping in a way that didn’t look human at all.
“P-Please, spare me!”
“......”
“I-I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please, just spare me.”
Jwa Sang-cheon was terrified. Terrified to the point of madness. More than the pain wracking his body, the thought of having to keep looking at Damho filled him with dread.
If only Damho would say something—anything—but Damho simply stared at him in silence. That made it all the more frightening.
“I was wrong...... Urk!”
Suddenly, Jwa Sang-cheon burst into tears.
He was no weakling. His pride was immense; he hated being spoken down to more than death itself. Yet here he was, sobbing like a child.
Damho grabbed Jwa Sang-cheon by the collar and hauled him up.
Jwa Sang-cheon’s legs dangled limply in the air. He felt nothing below his chest. It was as if his entire body had vanished, leaving only his head.
“Ugh! What did you do? My body...... I can’t feel anything. Aaaah!”
Jwa Sang-cheon screamed for dear life.
His entire body was paralyzed. Whether it was temporary or permanent, he had no way to know—and that uncertainty hit him like the sky collapsing.
Damho looked down at him and spoke.
“If you covet what belongs to others, shouldn’t you be prepared to lose what’s most precious to you?”
“Urk!”
Jwa Sang-cheon wasn’t even hearing Damho anymore. No—his mind was paralyzed too, unable to process any words.
Just then, Mo Jung-hyeon and Jang Hak-kyeong snapped out of their daze and shouted in unison.
“You mad bastard! How dare you do this to a person......”
“To think you’d harm someone here at Hongam Villa.”
They looked ready to unleash their martial arts at any moment.
Swish!
In that instant, Damho’s gaze turned toward them. The moment they met those emotionless, indifferent eyes, their bodies shuddered as if struck by lightning.
They had never seen eyes like Damho’s before. Like frogs facing a snake, their bodies went numb, even breathing becoming a struggle.
Cold sweat trickled down their spines, their clenched fists trembling uncontrollably.
In that moment, a dry voice slipped through Damho’s lips.
“And who are you?”
“We’re friends of Young Master Jwa.”
“Friends?”
Damho’s voice rose ever so slightly. The change was so subtle it was barely perceptible, but to the two facing him, it felt like a massive bell tolling right beside them.
“Are you willing to stake your lives?”
“W-What?”
“Are you willing to stake your lives for a friend?”
“I......”
They couldn’t answer. They couldn’t bring themselves to.
Even swept up in the heat of the moment and failing to judge the situation, they could easily guess what would happen if they answered wrong now.
They called him a friend, but they’d only met here. There was no real bond between them.
Overwhelmed by Damho’s presence, the two backed away hesitantly.
But one person approached Damho instead.
“That’s enough.”
The man striding toward Damho was Yun Sang-han, a lay disciple of the Kongtong Sect.
Yun Sang-han’s face was taut.
Truth be told, he hadn’t seen how Damho had taken down Jwa Sang-cheon. That meant Damho’s movements were faster than his own eyesight could follow.
‘To think someone like this existed.’
Though a lay disciple, Yun Sang-han had trained at the Kongtong Sect’s main headquarters. His achievements weren’t far behind those of the headquarters’ top disciples.
He’d even received personal instruction from the sect elders. Yet not a single warrior he’d seen in the Kongtong Sect possessed Damho’s suffocating presence.
But that didn’t mean he was intimidated. He took pride in being a disciple of the Kongtong Sect, one of the Nine Great Sects. Even as a lay disciple, that pride matched any core disciple’s.
He had been taught never to retreat under any circumstances, never to compromise with injustice.
Backing down under Damho’s pressure would shame the Kongtong Sect.
Yun Sang-han’s gaze shifted to Jwa Sang-cheon, cradled in Mun Su-kyeong’s arms.
Jwa Sang-cheon’s mouth hung open, foam bubbling at his lips. The shock of total paralysis had shattered his sanity.
Whether he’d ever recover fully was uncertain. He might be stuck like this forever.
They’d only met a day ago, their friendship thin at best. Still, they’d called each other friends.
His pride wouldn’t allow him to walk away now.
Yun Sang-han clasped his hands in salute toward Damho.
“I am Yun Sang-han of the Kongtong Sect.”
“And?”
“You could call me a friend of Jwa Sang-cheon, whom you’ve left in that state.”
“And?”
“It means my pride won’t let me back down. How could a Kongtong Sect disciple show his face in the martial world if he retreated under mere pressure?”
Yun Sang-han had already begun circulating his inner energy.
His resolve rippled through the air.
Damho nodded.
Compared to Jang Hak-kyeong or Mo Jung-hyeon, Yun Sang-han was undoubtedly manly.
Yun Sang-han leveled his fist at Damho. It looked twice the size of an ordinary man’s.
When one mastered the Kongtong Sect’s signature technique, the Heaven-Penetrating Fist, to its peak, the fist grew like this.
The Heaven-Penetrating Fist wasn’t a technique a mere lay disciple could learn. Even at headquarters, only the top disciples were permitted it. Its power was immense.
For the first time, emotion flickered in Damho’s eyes—interest.
He’d fought the Blood Wolf Bandits and clashed with Western Sky Villa warriors. None had met his expectations.
No matter what anyone said, the current overlords of the martial world were the Nine Great Sects.
He knew the arts of Mount Hua, Zhongnan, and Wudang, but he’d never faced Kongtong techniques before.
The corner of Damho’s mouth twitched upward.
It was a smile. If you could call that twisted curl of the lips a smile.
It was so savage and cold it froze the very air around them.
Yun Sang-han didn’t like that smile one bit.
“Hmph! Let’s see how long you keep smiling.”
He charged at Damho, unleashing the Kongtong Sect’s Flying Swallow Step.
Like a swallow skimming the water’s surface, Yun Sang-han leaned low and rushed from below.
Whoosh!
His clenched fist brimmed with concentrated power.
‘I’ll take him down.’
He knew the opponent was strong.
How could he not read the murderous intent in that savage aura and those chilling eyes?
He knew this foe was beyond him, but retreat wasn’t an option.
‘Because I’m a Kongtong Sect disciple.’
Boom!
He instinctively knew he wouldn’t get a second chance. He poured everything into this one move.
The technique called Earth-Shaking Heavy Rain.
True to its name—shaking the heavens to bring down rain—it unleashed devastating power.
Damho’s face loomed right before him.
His fist plunged toward Damho’s face.
The distance was barely an arm’s length.
No one could dodge from this range. That was Yun Sang-han’s conviction. Even Jang Hak-kyeong and Mo Jung-hyeon thought so.
In that moment everyone watched, Damho moved.
His five fingers splayed wide to meet Yun Sang-han’s fist.
Clack!
Yun Sang-han’s fist halted in Damho’s palm.
He had absorbed the impact with the Absorbing Character Formula.
Five Fingers Dark Light Break.
A technique he’d devised in the underground cavern.
“Urgh!”
The fist, loaded with full power, was blocked, sending shockwaves rebounding through Yun Sang-han’s body. Blood rushed to his head, throwing off his balance.
In that instant, Yun Sang-han saw it.
His own reflection in Damho’s eyes.
A bizarre expression mixing bewilderment and terror.
‘Is that... me?’
Then, immense force poured from Damho’s palm.
Explosion.
Tiny blasts erupted repeatedly inside his body.
Yun Sang-han felt a massive storm ravaging his innards.
“Argh!”
With a wretched scream, Yun Sang-han flew backward, crashing into a massive pillar in the hall. His forearm was twisted spirally, bone shards protruding.
“Guhhh!”
Yun Sang-han gritted his teeth against the agony.
Damho looked down at him.
“At least you’re a man. Unlike those others.”
At Damho’s words, Jang Hak-kyeong and Mo Jung-hyeon paled. They knew “those others” meant them.
First Jwa Sang-cheon, now Yun Sang-han—neither could withstand a single move from Damho. He was a being far beyond their comprehension.
‘Where did this monster come from......’
‘He’s not someone we can handle.’
Gulp!
They swallowed dryly.
If Damho decided to kill them now, they were done for. They’d lived fearless lives, but now terror shook them to the core.
They didn’t dare lift their heads, afraid of drawing Damho’s gaze. No matter their backgrounds, nothing could save them now—they’d realized that.
But Damho paid them no mind.
Yun Sang-han looked up at Damho. Pain twisted his face, but his fighting spirit hadn’t broken.
Suppressing the pain, he spoke.
“I...... lost. But the Kongtong Sect hasn’t lost to you.”
“I know.”
“I’ll challenge you again someday.”
“Anytime.”
Damho turned away.
There stood Mun Su-kyeong, holding Jwa Sang-cheon. Her eyes, fixed on Damho, were pure chaos.
Her Hyunhyeon Sect senior brother had been crippled out of nowhere. She couldn’t just stand by. But charging at Damho? She couldn’t even dream of it.
Gritting her teeth, she glared at him.
“Did it have to come to this? You could’ve shown mercy. Does thoroughly ruining someone really make you feel better?”
“At least he’s not dead.”
“You’ve made him wish he was. My senior brother will never walk on his own two legs again.”
“So you want me to take responsibility?”
“That’s......”
Mun Su-kyeong trailed off.
In the martial world, everyone bore the consequences of their actions. Her senior brother had coveted what wasn’t his, and this was the result.
The punishment fit the crime, but she couldn’t bring herself to accept it.
Logically, she understood. Emotionally, her heart rebelled.
“If you can’t accept the outcome, come find me anytime.”
“You......”
“I’ll give you my all then, too.”
Hearing that, Mun Su-kyeong was speechless. She knew Damho wasn’t one to joke. But more shocking was what his words implied.
‘This wasn’t his best?’
The Hyunhyeon Sect’s head disciple and a Kongtong Sect disciple shattered in one move. And that wasn’t even his full power?
She feared yet wondered what would happen if he went all out. Realizing her own thoughts, she startled herself.
She’d been swept up in this man Damho’s presence without realizing it.
“Ah!”
Her sigh scattered on the wind.