Chapter 148

Chapter 148: There Exists Pain Greater Than Death (2)

Hwang Hye-ryeong's quarters lay on the outer edge of the Tyrant's Stronghold. Her temperament favored quiet and detested bustle, so she had chosen a place where few people would come.

The room she occupied was simple. There was no lavish furniture, and the ornaments that most women possessed were almost entirely absent.

The only object adorning the walls was a single sword. Apart from that, there was nothing—a desolate sight.

"Hah…"

Hwang Hye-ryeong let out a sigh.

Her chest felt inexplicably tight.

Her gaze drifted beyond the window toward Hwang Gyeong-mun's quarters.

"The meeting must be going well."

It was a gathering of the Chieftains who represented the forest's strongholds. Unfortunately, she had no right to attend.

Knock! Knock!

At that moment, someone pounded urgently on her door.

"My lady, it's Il-gwang."

It was Muk Il-gwang. Without waiting for her answer, he burst through the door and entered.

"My lady, we must flee this place at once!"

"What's happened?"

"There's no time to explain."

As he spoke, Muk Il-gwang's entire body was flecked with droplets of blood.

Hwang Hye-ryeong bit her lip. She too had instinctively grasped that something was terribly wrong.

She took the sword hanging on the wall and hurried out after Muk Il-gwang.

The moment they stepped through the door—

"Il-gwang!"

Suddenly, several dozen warriors blocked their path.

Muk Il-gwang's expression turned ferocious. His already grim face became even more fearsome, but the warriors who blocked him did not so much as flinch.

The man at the front of the warriors stepped forward. He was a man of imposing build and fierce features, equal to Muk Il-gwang.

"Where are you hurrying off to, Il-gwang?"

"Guang-cheon! How dare you—"

Murderous intent blazed in Muk Il-gwang's eyes.

The man who had blocked his path was Yoo Guang-cheon, leader of the Ascending Dragon Division and once Muk Il-gwang's close friend.

Blood dripped steadily from the sword in Yoo Guang-cheon's hand. He had cut down members of the Ascending Dragon Division.

Only a short while ago, Yoo Guang-cheon had ambushed and killed five warriors of the Ascending Dragon Division who served under him.

They were all close to Muk Il-gwang and had never been fond of Yoo Guang-cheon.

"Do you hope to survive after this, Guang-cheon?"

"The sky of the forest is about to change. What reason have I to hesitate?"

"The sky is changing… Could it be—"

"Yes! By now, it should already be happening."

Yoo Guang-cheon glanced in the direction of Hwang Gyeong-mun's quarters.

Hwang Hye-ryeong's face went pale.

"So you've gone through with it? I could understand if the other Chieftains did something like this, but you—how could you?"

The Ascending Dragon Division was an organization that Hwang Gyeong-mun had poured his heart into building for the future of the forest.

Hwang Hye-ryeong knew better than anyone how much investment and effort had gone into cultivating them.

It was the one organization she had believed would never betray them, even if everyone else did. That they, of all people, had turned traitor made the shock all the greater.

"There are many things in this world that cannot be understood by common sense. Don't bother trying."

Yoo Guang-cheon bared his yellowed teeth in a grin.

The Ascending Dragon Division warriors around him voiced their agreement.

Hwang Hye-ryeong could not believe what lay before her. Despair surged through her in a wave of bitter betrayal.

"My lady, not all of the Ascending Dragon Division has joined them."

Muk Il-gwang's firm voice steadied her wavering heart.

His words were true.

Though Yoo Guang-cheon was the division leader, he had not fully secured the Ascending Dragon Division's loyalty. He had not earned the respect of many within it. A considerable number of warriors preferred Muk Il-gwang over him.

Knowing this, Yoo Guang-cheon had ambushed and eliminated those most likely to resist first.

"Hah…"

Hwang Hye-ryeong drew a deep breath and released it. Her eyes no longer wavered.

"Il-gwang!"

"Yes, my lady."

"Go to the Penitence Cave."

"Not to the Grand Chieftain?"

"Our strength alone won't make much difference there. Freeing Brother will be of far greater help."

"I understand."

Muk Il-gwang nodded firmly. Yoo Guang-cheon sneered at the sight.

"It won't matter."

"What?"

"You think we put those Demon Binding Chains on him for nothing? It was all for this. By now, he's probably vomiting blood and dying. Heh heh!"

"Heh heh!"

"No matter how great the Fist Demon may be, once his limbs are bound and he's poisoned, he's finished."

The Ascending Dragon Division warriors chimed in.

But their provocations did not so much as shake Muk Il-gwang's gaze.

'Brother cannot possibly fall so easily. They know nothing about him.'

Crack!

Muk Il-gwang drew his twin axes.

'The longer this drags on, the worse our position. I must seize the initiative.'

His resolve hardened, and Muk Il-gwang wasted no time.

Swish!

He unleashed the Blood Heaven Axe Technique and charged at Yoo Guang-cheon.

A powerful wave of axe energy hurtled toward Yoo Guang-cheon.

"Urgh!"

Yoo Guang-cheon cried out in alarm and swung his sword.

Kwa-boom!

The impact shook his body.

Their martial arts were evenly matched. But one wielded a massive axe while the other used a sword.

In terms of sheer weight, the sword was no match for the axe.

"How dare you—!"

"Kill him!"

The Ascending Dragon Division warriors moved to aid Yoo Guang-cheon, while a few headed for Hwang Hye-ryeong.

Muk Il-gwang's fearsome power was something the Ascending Dragon Division warriors knew better than anyone.

Had Muk Il-gwang remained in the division, Yoo Guang-cheon would never have become its leader. Such was his extraordinary martial prowess, and he had many followers.

'I must kill him. Only then can I fully control the Ascending Dragon Division.'

Yoo Guang-cheon gritted his teeth and attacked Muk Il-gwang.

While they fought at full force, Hwang Hye-ryeong too was doing her utmost to wield her martial arts. But her opponents were the Ascending Dragon Division.

Among the countless warriors of the forest, they were an elite force of the highest caliber. Breaking through them to reach Dam Ho seemed a distant hope.

'Brother…'

Dam Ho opened his eyes.

Through the iron bars, he saw the familiar face of the guard.

On the guard's tray lay a bowl of gruel and a spoon, both chipped.

"Eat."

The guard thrust the tray through the bars with a brusque tone.

Since being confined in the Penitence Cave, Dam Ho had received this thin gruel once a day. Since it was dispensed only once, he had never once refused it.

The guard assumed Dam Ho would eat it this time as well. But Dam Ho, having taken the tray, merely stared at it with no intention of eating.

When Dam Ho did not eat, the guard barked,

"What are you doing? Eat quickly so I can collect the tray!"

"Has it begun?"

"What?"

The guard's eyes went wide.

Dam Ho rose from his seat with the tray still in hand. The guard stumbled backward in alarm.

"What—what are you doing?"

So startled was he that he stammered.

Dam Ho held out the bowl of gruel toward him.

"Try it."

"Are you mad? Why would I eat that? Stop playing games and eat your food!"

"There's poison in it, isn't there?"

"P-p-poison?"

So shocked was the guard that his voice faltered. Dam Ho stared at him.

Those knowing eyes made the guard shudder.

The man beyond those bars was the Fist Demon.

He was a beast of terrifying power, ferocious beyond measure.

The number of martial artists who had died at his hands was beyond counting. If he so chose, the life of a mere bandit like himself would be as fragile as a candle in the wind.

The guard's fearful eyes fell upon the Demon Binding Chains clamped to Dam Ho's limbs. And upon the iron bars that stood between them.

The bars were forged from Dark Iron, renowned for its hardness. Even a master of considerable skill could not so much as scratch them.

Come to think of it, Dam Ho, locked behind the bars, had no way to harm him.

The guard laughed.

"So you figured out there's poison. But as long as you're in there, there's nothing you can do. You'd have been better off eating the poison and dying peacefully. Heh heh!"

"Did Jo Yun-san put you up to this?"

"Heh heh! What if he did?"

The guard let out an evil laugh and struck the wall of the Penitence Cave with his palm. In response, several dozen warriors who had been waiting on the plank path rushed inside.

These were fierce men drawn from the Black Dragon Stronghold and the White Deer Stronghold, radiating an air of menace.

They looked back and forth between Dam Ho, trapped behind the bars, and the guard.

"He's still alive?"

"He noticed the poison in the gruel."

"Did he? Tch! Sharp eyes, for nothing. Well, thanks to that, his death will be all the more painful."

The man who clicked his tongue was Jo Xin-chung, Jo Yun-san's confidant.

Jo Yun-san had entrusted him with the critical mission of poisoning Dam Ho.

He had bribed the guard at the Penitence Cave and handed over a lethal poison called the Blood Tear Intestine Severing Acid.

The Blood Tear Intestine Severing Acid was a terrifying toxin that, once ingested, would cause the internal organs to shred themselves apart, while the victim wept blood from their eyes before dying. There was no antidote. Once consumed, death was certain.

Jo Xin-chung addressed Dam Ho.

"At this point, you would be better off drinking the poison yourself. If you don't want to die in greater pain."

"How do you plan to kill me? I'm in here."

"You think those bars can protect you?"

Jo Xin-chung raised his hand. At the signal, about a dozen of his followers drew silver cylinders from within their robes. The cylinders, each the length of a child's forearm, had more than a dozen tiny holes drilled into them.

The cave was sealed on all sides, with only a single exit barely wide enough for one person. Once the hidden weapons were fired, there was nowhere to evade.

The warriors aimed the cylinders at Dam Ho.

"They are the Tang Clan's gold-grade hidden weapons—the Soul-Severing Needles. Once they strike, bone and flesh will dissolve into a puddle of blood. Heh heh!"

The Soul-Severing Needles were thinner than a strand of hair. Once fired from the cylinder, they were invisible to the naked eye, making them nearly impossible to block.

Jo Xin-chung's smile deepened.

Dam Ho's eyes, by contrast, sank into an unfathomable darkness.

He had seen that same object once before.

On the Yangtze River, bound for Akyang, the merchant barge carrying the goods—it had looked exactly like this. They too had claimed to be transporting goods from the Tang Clan.

'Did the Tang Clan's shipment end up here?'

Dam Ho did not know the full power of the Soul-Severing Needles. But that they were designated as gold-grade hidden weapons made it clear they possessed extraordinary destructive force.

Once triggered, each cylinder would launch a dozen needles. And there were more than a dozen cylinders. In total, over a hundred needles would rain down at once.

In this cave, sealed on all sides, there was nowhere for Dam Ho to hide.

Jo Xin-chung taunted him.

"Dying from the Soul-Severing Needles would be more merciful than drinking the Blood Tear Intestine Severing Acid in your gruel. Which will you choose?"

"Blood Tear Intestine Severing Acid…"

"Good choice. At least…"

"I'll put it in your mouth. Then feel free to keep talking, if you can."

Dam Ho's voice, utterly devoid of emotion, sent a shiver down Jo Xin-chung's spine.

Without thinking, he screamed,

"Fire! Turn him into a pincushion!"

Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!

The Soul-Severing Needles were launched. Over a hundred slender needles rained down on Dam Ho like a storm.

Tss! Tss! Tss!

In that instant, Dam Ho's body blurred, and the sound of tens of thousands of bees beating their wings at once filled the cave.

Shield—the supreme defensive technique—had activated.