Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Chapter 5. The Lone Walker, Solitary Flow (1)
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Light was fading from Jwa Mun-hyo's eyes.
A life was flickering out.
Even in his final moments as his breath failed, Jwa Mun-hyo couldn't comprehend what had happened to him. He died without leaving any last words.
“Sect Leader!”
Chae Gyu embraced Jwa Mun-hyo's lifeless body.
The surviving warriors of the Hyungsan Sect gathered around Jwa Mun-hyo and Chae Gyu.
“Urgh!”
“Sect Leader!”
Tears streamed down their faces as they glared at Damho over their leader's death.
They had descended Mount Hyung with light hearts. Never imagining they would lose their sect leader and fellow disciples here, the shock hit them even harder.
“Kill that bastard.”
“We must avenge the sect leader.”
The Hyungsan Sect warriors tried to charge at Damho again. But Chae Gyu stopped them.
“Everyone, halt.”
“Elder!”
“But he's the enemy who killed our sect leader.”
The warriors naturally rebelled. But Chae Gyu was unyielding.
“This is an order as your elder. Disobey, and I'll expel you all from the sect.”
“Urgh!”
Faced with Chae Gyu's extreme command, the Hyungsan Sect warriors could no longer move. No matter how lost in rage they were, nothing terrified them more than expulsion.
As the warriors calmed, Chae Gyu looked down at Jwa Mun-hyo's corpse. The face of the once-vibrant man had turned deathly pale.
“Sect Leader.”
Chae Gyu closed Jwa Mun-hyo's eyes and stood.
Cold fury burned in his gaze as he stared at Damho.
His heart screamed for revenge, but his reason whispered to hold back.
Half the disciples he had brought here had died in an instant, and even the sect leader couldn't match him.
This opponent was a master beyond anything he could measure.
With their current forces, they had no chance against him. As bitter as it was, that was reality.
So he had to stay as cool-headed as possible.
One wrong move, and not only would revenge slip away, but every disciple here could lose their lives.
He had a duty to safely return the surviving disciples to the Hyungsan Sect.
“We'll return to the Hyungsan Sect. Will you let us go?”
Chae Gyu declared their retreat without a hint of servility. To Damho's eyes, this made him seem utterly out of place.
“And if I do?”
“We'll regroup our forces and one day seek revenge on you.”
“Why would I think you'd let us go? It'd be easier to just kill you all here.”
“Then we'll accept our deaths without resistance.”
“......”
“Killing those who can't fight back won't sit well with you either. Especially someone with your temperament.”
This was a gamble with his life on the line.
Chae Gyu was provoking Damho, staking himself, his fifty disciples, and the fate of the Hyungsan Sect.
His mouth was parched, but he didn't show it as he glared at Damho.
The hellish silence finally broke as Damho spoke.
“The Hyungsan Sect might need an elder like you.”
“You'll let us go?”
“I will.”
“Even knowing we'll seek revenge?”
Chae Gyu's eyes wavered at Damho's unexpected response, though he had hoped for it.
“Yes!”
“You're clearly a madman.”
“Maybe I am.”
Damho nodded.
If anyone else had spouted such words, he would have crushed their skull in an instant.
Chae Gyu was desperate to protect his disciples while holding firm to his convictions. Such men were exceedingly rare.
At least, he hadn't encountered one since re-entering the world. So for once, he wanted to give Chae Gyu this chance.
Chae Gyu asked,
“What's your name?”
“Damho!”
“I'll remember it. The Hyungsan Sect will never forget your name.”
“Good!”
“My name is Chae Gyu. Remember it well. One day, I'll drive my sword into your heart.”
“I look forward to it.”
Damho nodded and began to walk away.
He limped slightly, but the sight only terrified the Hyungsan Sect disciples more, causing them to part to either side.
Under the reddening sky, Damho's figure gradually receded. Watching him go, Chae Gyu murmured without thinking.
“The one who walks alone... Solitary Flow.”
Chae Gyu didn't know.
That his idle musing would become the name for Damho's Secret Fist Style.
Solitary Flow.
Damho walked alone.
***
An unbelievable rumor swept through Honam Province.
A peerless demonic fist master had appeared.
He had wiped out the Ak Family Manor and even killed the Hyungsan Sect leader.
Nam Hak, a direct disciple of the Gongdong Sect leader, had fallen to him.
He was a ruthless killer who never spared anyone who crossed him.
New Frontier Blood Star.
The blood-red star that rose from the New Frontier.
But some called him by another moniker.
Fist Demon.
No one in the history of the martial world had earned such a blood-soaked title so quickly.
People began to pay attention to Damho.
Whenever two or more gathered, talk inevitably turned to him. Especially in Honam Province, where he had recently appeared, stories about him never ceased.
Yet strangely, after the Hyungsan Sect bloodbath, he hadn't shown himself. This only fueled people's curiosity about him.
***
The master of the Eoyang Sword Sect, Sima Kyung-won, scowled deeply. Unannounced guests were the cause.
Before him sat a man in his early forties, dressed in the sky-blue robes of a scholar.
Sharp facial lines, piercing eyes, and a gaze that seemed to see through one's soul.
Everything about him felt oppressive.
The man's name was Nangong Chang, from the Nangong Family.
Sima Kyung-won knew nothing of Nangong Chang. But the mere fact that he hailed from one of the Five Great Families filled him with immense pressure.
The Five Great Families.
The Huangbo Family, seated in Beiping of Shandong Province.
The Jinju Yan Clan, based in Anpyeong.
The Peng Family, hegemon of Hebei Province.
The Zhuge Family of Hubei Province.
And finally, the Nangong Family of Anhui Province.
Among the hundreds and thousands of martial clans scattered across the land, these five possessed unparalleled might and influence.
Each boasted centuries of history, their power and reach rivaling even the Nine Great Sects.
While most of the Nine Great Sects were in the central plains, the Five Great Families clustered along the eastern coast.
This tied closely to the history of the central plains.
When the Nine Great Sects rose, the heart of the central plains lay inland. But as dynasties shifted and the capital moved to modern Beiping, nearby coastal cities flourished.
The Five Great Families exploded in growth alongside the capital's relocation, achieving their current prominence.
Thus, some viewed the Nine Great Sects as traditional powers and the Five Great Families as rising stars.
The Nangong Family had settled in Anhui Province three hundred years ago. Even then, they wielded considerable wealth and martial prowess, though not yet on a world-spanning scale.
In any case, the current Nangong Family had grown to a point where even the Nine Great Sects felt their weight, their influence far beyond what the Eoyang Sword Sect could match.
It was no wonder Sima Kyung-won found Nangong Chang intimidating.
Nangong Chang had introduced himself as an elder of the Nangong Family.
At his side was a handsome young man. With his fair skin and gentle smile, an outsider might mistake him for a scholar.
The youth's name was Nangong Su, unknown in the martial world, so Sima Kyung-won had no knowledge of him. Nor the spare attention.
Sima Kyung-won asked cautiously,
“To what do we owe the visit from an elder of the Nangong Family?”
“First, I've heard the Haenam Sect's Sea Branch Leader is staying here. Is that correct?”
Nangong Chang's voice was soft and measured. Yet hearing it sent an inexplicable chill through Sima Kyung-won.
“That is so, but...”
“Then you've heard something by now.”
“Something?”
“As the Sea Branch Leader said, an important gathering will soon take place here. I'm only here to make prior arrangements.”
“A gathering?”
“I can't say more yet.”
Nangong Chang shook his head gently.
“Eoyang is practically our front yard in the Eoyang Sword Sect. And you're holding a gathering in my front yard without telling me why?”
“The matter is too grave. I hope Sect Master Sima can bear with us.”
“What?”
Sima Kyung-won couldn't accept Nangong Chang's words.
It was like a guest barging into a host's home, claiming the yard for themselves and telling the owners to mind their own business.
The problem was that the martial world bowed to strength.
If even someone from the Nangong Family—one of the Five Great Families—came for preparations, how formidable must the others attending be?
“Then may I know who will attend?”
“The Five Great Families.”
“Hmm!”
“The Nine Great Sects.”
“Gasp!”
With each revelation from Nangong Chang, Sima Kyung-won's face drained to an ashen hue.
A gathering of the Five Great Families and Nine Great Sects was beyond anything he could meddle in. Falling afoul of even one would erase the Eoyang Sword Sect from existence.
“And the Haenam Sect as well. For now, just know that major figures are coming here.”
“The entire Five Great Families and Nine Great Sects? Not leaving out a single one?”
“Exactly. The issue is so monumental that we've chosen this neutral ground for the meeting.”
“Hmm!”
Sima Kyung-won was speechless.
Neutral ground or not, sects existed here. The Eoyang Sword Sect was foremost, and nearby were other Honam Five Sects like the Uiseon Sect.
Yet they called it neutral because they dismissed the local sects as insignificant.
Nangong Chang continued,
“So we need the Eoyang Sword Sect's cooperation. I trust you'll lend your assistance.”
It was phrased as a request, but the implication was pure threat. The issue was that the Eoyang Sword Sect lacked the power to refuse.
“Hmm!”
Sima Kyung-won groaned, and Nangong Chang smiled.
Nangong Chang knew.
That Sima Kyung-won could never refuse his proposal.
In the martial world, the strong ruled.
And those who now dominated it were converging here.