Chapter 65

Chapter 65: To Covet Another's Possessions, One Must Stake What One Holds Dear (3)

"Urgh!"

A bloodied figure tumbled across the floor of the pavilion. The bluestone tiles had been stained red.

Jang Hak-gyeong and the others blinked in disbelief.

It had happened in the span of a heartbeat. They had eyes, yet they had not seen what occurred.

"S-Senior Brother?"

Mun Su-gyeong's voice trembled involuntarily.

The bloodied figure rolling across the floor was none other than her Senior Brother, Jwa Sang-cheon.

Before him stood Dam Ho.

They did not understand what had happened. Jwa Sang-cheon had attacked first, and yet it was Jwa Sang-cheon who lay broken on the floor.

"Bleaargh!"

Blood and vomit spilled from Jwa Sang-cheon's mouth.

In a single blow, Jwa Sang-cheon—the first disciple of the Hyunhyeon Sect—had been reduced to helplessness. Had it not been for the internal energy he had cultivated, which protected his body, that single strike would have obliterated his internal organs entirely.

Dam Ho stood before Jwa Sang-cheon. Jwa Sang-cheon struggled to look up at him. Every blood vessel in his eyes had burst, leaving them entirely red and bloodshot.

"Urgh!"

The world had turned entirely red, and at its center stood Dam Ho.

He could not focus his eyes, so Dam Ho's figure appeared doubled, even tripled. The sight was inhuman.

"S-save me!"

"…"

"I-I was wrong! I admit I was wrong! Please, just spare my life!"

Jwa Sang-cheon was terrified—truly, maddeningly terrified. More than the pain in his body, what frightened him was the fact that he had to keep looking at Dam Ho.

If only Dam Ho would say something—but Dam Ho merely gazed at him in silence. That made it all the more terrifying.

"I said I was wrong… guuuh!"

Suddenly, Jwa Sang-cheon began to cry.

He was not a weak man. His pride was fierce, and he despised being criticized by anyone more than death itself. Yet now he sobbed like an infant.

Dam Ho seized Jwa Sang-cheon by the collar and lifted him. Jwa Sang-cheon's legs dangled uselessly in the air. Below his chest, he could feel nothing—as though everything below the neck had ceased to exist.

"Nngh! What have you done to my body? I can't feel anything! Uwaaah!"

Jwa Sang-cheon screamed in mortal terror. His entire body was paralyzed. Whether the condition was temporary or permanent, there was no way to know. To Jwa Sang-cheon, it felt as though the heavens themselves had crumbled.

Dam Ho looked down at him and spoke.

"When you covet another's possessions, did you not prepare to lose what you hold most dear?"

"Guuuh!"

Jwa Sang-cheon was no longer listening. No—his mind had been paralyzed along with his body, rendering him incapable of hearing any words.

At that moment, Mo Jung-hyeon and Jang Hak-gyeong, having recovered their senses, shouted simultaneously.

"You madman! How could you—"

"How dare you assault someone in Hongam Mountain Villa!"

They looked as though they might deploy their martial arts at any moment.

*Swish!*

In that instant, Dam Ho's gaze turned toward them. The moment they met those emotionless eyes, their bodies shook as though struck by lightning. Never had they encountered a gaze like Dam Ho's. Like frogs before a serpent, their entire bodies went numb, and even breathing became laborious.

Sweat trickled down their spines, and their clenched fists trembled with violent convulsions.

At that moment, a dry voice escaped Dam Ho's lips.

"Who are you?"

"We are friends of Young Hero Jwa."

"Friends?"

Dam Ho's voice rose slightly. Though the change was so subtle it was barely perceptible, to the two men standing before him, it struck like a massive bell tolling at their side.

"Would you stake your lives?"

"Wh-what?"

"Would you stake your lives for a friend?"

"I—"

The two could not answer. No—they could not.

No matter how swept up they were in the moment, lacking the clarity to judge the situation, they could easily guess what would happen if they answered wrongly.

They called themselves friends, but they had only met here. There could be no true loyalty between them.

Crushed under the weight of Dam Ho's presence, the two stumbled backward.

But there was someone who advanced toward Dam Ho instead.

"That's enough."

The man approaching was Yoon Sang-han, the outer disciple of the Tongtong Sect.

Yoon Sang-han's face was rigid. Honestly, he had not seen how Dam Ho had defeated Jwa Sang-cheon. That meant Dam Ho's movements exceeded the limits of his perception.

*'To think such a man existed.'*

Though he was an outer disciple, Yoon Sang-han had trained at the Tongtong Sect's main mountain. His achievements were not greatly inferior to those of the main mountain's first-generation disciples. He had even received instruction from the sect's elders. Yet among all the martial artists he had seen at the Tongtong Sect, none possessed the suffocating presence that Dam Ho radiated.

But this did not cower him. He possessed the pride of being a disciple of the Tongtong Sect—one of the Nine Great Sects. Though an outer disciple, his pride was in no way lesser than that of the main mountain's disciples.

He had been taught never to retreat, never to compromise with injustice.

To retreat before Dam Ho's pressure would be to shame the Tongtong Sect itself.

Yoon Sang-han's gaze turned to Jwa Sang-cheon, who lay cradled in Mun Su-gyeong's arms. Jwa Sang-cheon's mouth hung open, foam bubbling at his lips. The shock of total paralysis had driven him to the edge of madness.

Whether he could ever fully recover was uncertain. He might have to live out the rest of his days in this state.

Though they had known each other only a day and their bond was tenuous, they had been called friends. To retreat now was something his pride would not permit.

Yoon Sang-han offered Dam Ho a fist-and-palm salute.

"I am Yoon Sang-han of the Tongtong Sect."

"And?"

"I am a friend of the man you reduced to that state."

"And?"

"It means my pride will not allow me to simply walk away. If a disciple of the Tongtong Sect were to retreat merely because his opponent intimidated him, how could he ever hold his head high in the martial world?"

Yoon Sang-han had already begun circulating his internal energy.

His will was transmitted through the air.

Dam Ho nodded. Compared to Jang Hak-gyeong and Mo Jung-hyeon, Yoon Sang-han was undeniably a man.

Yoon Sang-han leveled his fist at Dam Ho. The fist appeared twice the size of an ordinary man's. When the Tongtong Sect's supreme art, the Heaven-Reaching Fist, was trained to its pinnacle, the fist transformed thus.

The Heaven-Reaching Fist was not a martial art an outer disciple could normally learn. It was an art reserved only for the first-generation disciples of the main mountain. Its power was correspondingly devastating.

For the first time, emotion flickered in Dam Ho's eyes. It was unmistakably interest.

He had fought the Blood Wolf Gang bandits and clashed with the martial artists of Seocheon Mountain Villa. None among them had satisfied his expectations.

No matter what anyone said, the true sovereigns of the current martial world were the Nine Great Sects.

He had seen the martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect, the Zhongnan Sect, and the Wudang Sect. But he had never experienced the martial arts of the Tongtong Sect.

The corners of Dam Ho's mouth turned upward ever so slightly.

It was a smile—if one could call the faintly twisted expression a smile. His smile was so fierce and cold that the very air around them seemed to freeze.

Yoon Sang-han did not care for that smile.

"Hmph! We'll see how long you can keep smiling."

He lunged at Dam Ho, deploying the Tongtong Sect's supreme movement technique, the Flying Swallow Step. Like a swallow skimming the water's surface, Yoon Sang-han dropped low and charged from below.

*Whoooosh!*

All his power was compressed into his clenched fist.

*'I'll bring him down.'*

He knew the opponent was strong. That murderous aura, that killing intent burning in his eyes—how could he fail to read it?

He knew his opponent was beyond him, yet he could not retreat.

*'Because I am a disciple of the Tongtong Sect.'*

*CRASH!*

He knew instinctively that he had only one chance. Therefore, he poured everything into this single strike.

A technique called Heaven-Shaking Rain—its name meant to make the heavens tremble and rain fall, and its power was precisely that devastating.

Dam Ho's face loomed before him. His fist was descending toward Dam Ho's face. The distance was barely one chi.

At this range, no one could dodge. That was Yoon Sang-han's conviction. Even Jang Hak-gyeong and Mo Jung-hyeon thought so.

In the moment everyone's attention was fixed, Dam Ho moved.

His five fingers spread wide, and he received Mo Jung-hyeon's fist.

*Thud!*

Yoon Sang-han's fist was blocked by Dam Ho's palm. He had absorbed the impact using the Absorption Seal.

Five Finger Rock-Breaking Technique—a martial art of his own creation, born in the underground cavern.

"Kuh!"

With his fist already packed full of power, the sudden block caused a violent backlash through his internal body. Every drop of blood in his body seemed to rush to his head, and he struggled to maintain balance.

In that instant, Yoon Sang-han saw—his own reflection in Dam Ho's eyes.

A face contorted by a mixture of bewilderment and terror—his own face, reflected through Dam Ho's gaze.

*'Is that me?'*

In the next instant, a tremendous force surged through Dam Ho's palm.

*Explosion.*

Small explosions erupted continuously within his body.

Yoon Sang-han felt as though a colossal storm was sweeping through his insides.

"Argh!"

With a scream of anguish, Yoon Sang-han was hurled backward, crashing into one of the pavilion's great pillars. His forearm was twisted into a spiral, bone fragments jutting from the flesh.

"Uuugh!"

Yoon Sang-han clenched his teeth against the pain.

Dam Ho looked down at him.

"But at least you're a man. Unlike those two."

At Dam Ho's words, Jang Hak-gyeong and Mo Jung-hyeon's faces drained of color. They knew he was referring to them.

After Jwa Sang-cheon, Yoon Sang-han had also failed to withstand a single blow from Dam Ho. Their opponent existed on a plane far beyond their comprehension.

*'Where did such a man come from—'*

*'He's not our match.'*

*Gulp!*

They swallowed dryly.

If Dam Ho were to take killing intent upon them now, their lives would be forfeit. They who had lived in blissful ignorance of fear now trembled in extreme terror.

They dared not even lift their heads, afraid that Dam Ho's gaze might fall upon them. No matter how powerful their backgrounds, they realized in this moment that such connections could not protect their lives.

But Dam Ho, in truth, paid them no attention at all.

Yoon Sang-han looked up at Dam Ho. His face was twisted in pain, but his fighting spirit had not been broken.

Through gritted teeth, he spoke.

"I… lost. It was I who lost to you, not the Tongtong Sect."

"I know."

"I will challenge you again."

"Any time."

Dam Ho turned away. He saw Mun Su-gyeong cradling Jwa Sang-cheon. Her eyes as she gazed at Dam Ho were a maelstrom of confusion.

The first disciple of the Hyunhyeon Sect had been reduced to half-paralysis. She could not simply let this pass. But neither could she bring herself to challenge Dam Ho.

She bit down hard and glared at him.

"Was that truly necessary? Couldn't you have shown some restraint? Must you utterly destroy a person before you're satisfied?"

"At least he's not dead."

"You've made him worse than dead! He'll never walk on his own two feet again for the rest of his life!"

"So you want me to take responsibility?"

"That—"

Mun Su-gyeong could not continue.

In the martial world, one had to bear the consequences of one's own actions. Her Senior Brother had coveted another's property, and the result was his paralysis. The punishment may have been severe relative to the crime, but there was no room for complaint.

Her mind understood, but her heart could not accept this outcome.

"If you cannot accept the result, you may come for me anytime."

"You—"

"At that time, I too will do my best."

The moment she heard Dam Ho's words, Mun Su-gyeong found herself unable to speak. She knew well that Dam Ho was not a man who spoke empty words. But what startled her even more was the implication behind his words.

*'That wasn't even his best?'*

The first disciple of the Hyunhyeon Sect and a disciple of the Tongtong Sect had been destroyed in a single blow. And yet he claimed that was not even his best effort.

She was terrified—and yet curious—about what would happen if he truly fought with everything he had. When Mun Su-gyeong realized this about herself, she was startled.

She had already been swept up by the gravity of Dam Ho's existence.

"Ah!"

Her sigh was carried away on the wind.