Fist Demon of Mount Hua Episode 13

Dam-ho opened his eyes.

The sweet fragrance of plum blossoms drifted on the breeze, yet he was so deeply focused that he barely registered it.

Every ounce of his attention was fixed on the enormous boulder before him.

The rest of the world seemed to disappear, leaving only the small circle marked on the face of the rock within his vision.

“Hoo…”

Dam-ho slowly steadied his breathing.

The heavy energy gathered within his dantian stirred at once, racing through his meridians and spreading throughout his entire body.

His twisted left leg dug firmly into the ground.

The muscles of his calf swelled, and in the next instant, he kicked off with explosive force.

Thoom!

His body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a drawn bow, carving a straight path through the air.

Charging Steps.

It was a movement technique built around a single-minded forward charge, much like a battering ram smashing through a fortress gate.

The massive boulder seemed to leap toward him as the distance vanished in an instant.

Dam-ho’s fist lashed out like a whip.

Fortress Piercing Fist.

A fist technique created alongside Charging Steps.

A strike meant to break through even the walls of a fortress.

Pow!

A dull impact rang out.

Dam-ho’s fist buried itself into the boulder nearly to the wrist. Crushed fragments of stone spilled downward as easily as crumbled tofu.

He slowly pulled his fist free.

The hand that emerged was rough and battered, covered in scars and thick calluses.

Every mark on it was proof of the blood, sweat, and tears he had shed over the past year.

“Finally…”

A mixture of emotions passed over Dam-ho’s face.

At last, an entire year of relentless effort had begun to bear fruit.

Then a familiar voice reached him from behind.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Master!”

Sage Hyun-so stood there.

His expression was filled with just as much emotion as Dam-ho’s.

For the past year, Sage Hyun-so had witnessed every moment of Dam-ho’s struggle. No one knew better than him how much pain and effort his disciple had endured to reach this point.

To anyone else, three zhang was hardly a meaningful distance.

To Dam-ho, however, it had once seemed as vast as the Yangtze River stretching across the Central Plains.

He had fallen countless times.

Day after day, he had stumbled, rolled across the ground, and forced himself back to his feet while practicing Charging Steps.

Now, his deformed left leg had finally become strong enough to withstand the technique, and his fist had grown powerful enough to pierce solid rock.

Sage Hyun-so placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Even so, don’t grow complacent. You’ve only just reached the same starting line as everyone else.”

“I know, Master.”

Dam-ho gave a faint smile.

“And that alone is enough for me.”

He had started from the very bottom and finally managed to stand on equal ground with others.

For Dam-ho, that was already an extraordinary achievement.

His determination had become even stronger.

His perseverance had hardened into something that could no longer be shaken.

There was still plenty of time ahead of him.

And now that he had finally reached the starting line, he intended to run as hard as he possibly could.

‘I’ll never let anyone trample over me so helplessly again.’

Dam-ho clenched his teeth.

A faint but unmistakable killing intent flickered through his eyes.

Watching him, Sage Hyun-so sighed inwardly.

‘Ho’s killing intent only grows stronger with time.’

For a brief moment, a troubling thought crossed his mind.

Perhaps he was raising a monster.

But Sage Hyun-so quickly dismissed it.

Dam-ho was his one and only disciple.

Everything he had done had been for the boy’s sake.

Regretting his choices now would mean rejecting everything he had believed in and everything they had endured together.

At least when it came to his disciple, Sage Hyun-so refused to live with regret.

Four seasons had passed since Dam-ho began training here.

During all that time, not a single person had come to visit them.

Neither the elders nor even the first-generation disciples had shown themselves.

One might have expected at least a few people to come out of curiosity, if only to see how Dam-ho was doing.

Yet no one had.

Sage Hyun-so tried to convince himself that everyone must have had their own reasons, but their complete indifference still left a bitter wound in his heart.

‘Dam-ho is not someone who deserves to be ignored.’

His gaze settled on his disciple.

‘One day, this child will become a treasure of the Mount Hua Sect.’

He believed that without the slightest doubt.

The blood and sweat Dam-ho had shed were real.

Sage Hyun-so, who had remained beside him throughout the entire process, understood that better than anyone.

His gaze shifted toward Cloud Terrace Peak, where the True Martial Temple stood.

It was the residence of Sage Hyun-geom, master of the True Martial Temple.

Not long ago, Sage Hyun-geom had once again entered closed-door training.

This time, however, he had not gone alone.

He had taken a newly accepted disciple with him.

The disciple’s Taoist name was Myeong-gyeong.

Surprisingly, he had originally been nothing more than an outer disciple.

Unable to find anyone satisfactory among the first- and second-generation disciples, Sage Hyun-geom had eventually turned his attention toward the outer disciples training at the main temple.

There, he had discovered Myeong-gyeong and personally taken him as a disciple.

Even within the Mount Hua Sect, very little was known about the young man.

Until recently, he had been someone of little importance.

No one knew exactly what Sage Hyun-geom had seen in him.

But now that Myeong-gyeong had become his disciple, expectations naturally began to gather around him.

How long their seclusion would continue was anyone’s guess.

Before entering closed-door training, Sage Hyun-geom had declared,

“I will not come out until Myeong-gyeong achieves results that satisfy me.”

Sage Hyun-so looked toward the distant peak.

‘Senior Brother Hyun-geom… I hope the disciple you chose truly becomes the prodigy who can breathe new life into Mount Hua.’

At first, Sage Hyun-so had felt anger simply because Myeong-gyeong had become Sage Hyun-geom’s disciple.

It was an irrational resentment born from his feelings toward Sage Hyun-geom.

But as time passed, most of that anger disappeared.

His resentment toward Sage Hyun-geom remained, but Myeong-gyeong himself had done nothing wrong.

If anything, Sage Hyun-so sincerely hoped the young man would succeed and become a strong pillar supporting the Mount Hua Sect.

He turned back toward Dam-ho with a smile.

“You’ve spent long enough practicing Charging Steps in this cramped place. Why don’t we go out for a while and get some fresh air? The plum blossoms across Mount Hua are especially beautiful this season.”

“Yes, Master.”

Dam-ho bowed respectfully.

Sage Hyun-so walked ahead, and Dam-ho followed behind him.

Only now, after finally stepping away from his training, did Dam-ho notice that plum blossoms had bloomed all across Mount Hua.

The pale flowers scattered among the jagged cliffs and rugged stone created a breathtaking sight.

Not long ago, the mountain had been buried beneath snow.

All living things had withdrawn into silence, conserving every scrap of strength they possessed in order to endure the winter.

But spring had returned.

And with it, life emerged once more, revealing its existence to the world.

Sage Hyun-so gazed at the scenery as though something about it had deeply stirred him.

He murmured,

“The space between heaven and earth is like a bellows. Though empty, it is never exhausted, and the more it moves, the more it produces. If such is the nature of all things, then why must one seek the Way only within Taoist scriptures when it already exists before our very eyes?”

He stopped walking.

For a long while, Sage Hyun-so simply stared at the plum blossoms covering Mount Hua.

Dam-ho said nothing.

He quietly watched the distant, thoughtful expression on his master’s face.

A soft breeze swept past them.

Countless plum petals rose into the air and scattered across the mountain.

—

Dam-ho pulled a book from inside his robes.

It was the same book Sage Hyun-so had given him long ago.

He had read through it so many times that its yellowed cover was already worn and frayed around the edges.

He opened it.

Pages filled with notes, diagrams, and explanations greeted him.

The foundation had originally been written by Sage Hyun-so, but over time Dam-ho had gradually filled the remaining spaces with his own observations, ideas, and discoveries.

‘I still have a long way to go.’

At present, the only techniques he could properly perform were Charging Steps and Fortress Piercing Fist.

Even those were merely the beginning.

There was still an enormous gap between his current abilities and the power he had originally imagined.

The Bloody Sky Kick remained far beyond his reach.

As for the other techniques, they existed as little more than vague concepts written across the pages.

Nameless and incomplete.

He did not even know when they would be finished.

Perhaps some of them never would be.

Dam-ho carefully recorded everything he had realized during that day’s training before closing the battered book and slipping it back into his robes.

The afternoon sunlight was pleasantly warm.

He stretched out on the flat wooden platform and looked up at the sky.

White clouds drifted lazily overhead.

Dam-ho watched them without much thought.

Sage Hyun-so had not stepped outside his room since returning from their walk.

It seemed something from earlier had given him a sudden flash of enlightenment, and he had immediately shut himself away to contemplate it.

Dam-ho chose not to disturb him.

Somehow, he could sense that this was an important moment for his master.

Martial artists grew stronger by constantly training and refining their bodies and techniques.

Taoists, however, could also advance through enlightenment.

Dam-ho suspected his master had encountered such an opportunity.

So he waited patiently for Sage Hyun-so to emerge on his own.

Then he sensed something.

A presence beyond the bushes.

Dam-ho immediately lowered the arm he had been using as a pillow and sat upright.

A sharp light entered his eyes as he stared toward the source of the disturbance.

Rustle.

Someone pushed through the bushes and stepped into view.

It was a young Taoist boy who appeared to be around fourteen or fifteen years old.

Dam-ho recognized him immediately.

“You…”

It was Won Yul.

A second-generation disciple of the Mount Hua Sect.

“W-Won Yul greets Junior Uncle.”

Won Yul reluctantly cupped his fist and bowed.

There was little sincerity or respect in his expression.

“What is it?”

“The Sect Leader has urgently ordered me to bring Junior Uncle Hyeon-so back.”

Dam-ho’s brows twitched faintly.

For an entire year, the Sect Leader had shown no interest in them whatsoever.

And now, without warning, he was suddenly summoning his master?

Something didn’t feel right.

“Wait here.”

“But the Sect Leader told me to bring him back immediately.”

“Wait here.”

“Junior Uncle, the Sect Leader specifically ordered—”

“I said wait.”

Dam-ho’s voice turned cold.

It wasn’t loud, but there was an unmistakable weight behind it.

Won Yul’s chest tightened.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise.

‘What was that?’

He might only have been a second-generation disciple, but he had still trained in martial arts for years. He was accustomed to maintaining his composure even under pressure.

Yet a single sentence from Dam-ho had shaken him.

Won Yul frowned and stared at him.

Their eyes met.

But only for a moment.

Won Yul instinctively turned his gaze away.

There was something strangely unsettling about Dam-ho’s calm yet razor-sharp eyes. The longer he looked into them, the harder it became to maintain eye contact.

Suppressing his irritation, Won Yul closed his mouth and lowered his gaze.

It was humiliating.

Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to protest again.

Time slowly passed.

Won Yul grew increasingly impatient, yet he remained silent.

Dam-ho wasn’t doing anything in particular, but the quiet pressure radiating from him was enough to keep Won Yul subdued.

Then a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Come to think of it… wasn’t Junior Uncle supposed to be almost crippled?’

The first-generation disciples had tried to conceal what had happened at the True Martial Temple.

But there had been far too many witnesses for the matter to remain hidden.

Eventually, word spread throughout the Mount Hua Sect that Dam-ho had been left disabled.

Won Yul had heard the same rumors.

Yet the Dam-ho standing before him now showed none of the weakness he had expected.

There was no trace of helplessness or frailty in him.

“J-Junior Uncle…”

Won Yul finally gathered enough courage to ask.

But before he could continue—

“Did someone come?”

Creak.

The door opened, and Sage Hyeon-so stepped outside.

In the short time he had remained inside, something about him had changed.

His gaze was noticeably deeper than before.

Dam-ho noticed it immediately.

‘Master…’

Won Yul quickly bowed.

“Second-generation disciple Won Yul greets Junior Uncle.”

“What brings you here?”

“The Sect Leader has ordered me to escort Junior Uncle back.”

“The Sect Leader?”

Sage Hyun-so furrowed his brow.

“Why does he want to see me?”

“I wasn’t told the reason. I was only instructed to bring you back.”

“Hmm…”

Sage Hyun-so fell into thought for a moment.

But he did not dwell on it for long.

Whatever the reason might be, this was a summons from the Sect Leader of Mount Hua.

As a disciple of the sect, he could hardly refuse.

“Very well. I’ll go.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Dam-ho stepped forward.

Sage Hyun-so glanced at him briefly before giving a silent nod.

With Won Yul leading the way, the two left the residence.

It was the first time Sage Hyeon-so had ventured away from there in nearly a year.

He had lived on Mount Hua for almost his entire life.

And yet, strangely enough, the scenery he had known for so long seemed unfamiliar today.

They crossed Canglong Ridge, its winding shape resembling the spine of a great dragon, and eventually reached Wuyun Peak.

It had been five years since Sage Hyun-so had last come this way.

Nothing appeared to have changed.

The mountains were the same.

The paths were the same.

Yet as Sage Hyeon-so looked around, an inexplicable uneasiness settled over his heart.

“Amitabha Buddha…”

A faint sigh escaped him.

“The world remains unchanged, yet it seems only my heart has changed.”

They continued toward Lotus Flower Peak.

Before long, Jade Cloud Palace appeared in the distance.

Someone was standing near its entrance.

The moment Dam-ho saw the figure, his expression stiffened slightly.

“Senior Brother?”

Sage Hyeon-so’s eyes narrowed.

“Junior Brother Cheon-gyeong?”

The man standing before Jade Cloud Palace was someone Dam-ho knew very well.

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