Chapter 143: Those Who Have Forgotten the Past, Those Who Cannot Forget (3)

Hwang Gyeong-mun looked down at Jo Yun-san.

"It's been too long, Chieftain Jo."

"I should have visited more often. My apologies."

"Given the distance, it cannot be helped."

"Then let me serve you well during my stay here."

"I appreciate it."

"But why is a feast being held? Could it be for our benefit?"

"As it happens, it is. You've come a long way and must be tired. Rest well tonight and enjoy the feast."

"Thank you."

Jo Yun-san bowed deeply. The other chieftains bowed in turn.

Jo Yun-san smiled and turned away.

Though countless gazes rested upon him, he appeared perfectly at ease.

His gaze then fell upon a young woman. At the sight, the smile on his face deepened.

Without hesitation, he strode toward her.

"It's been too long, Hye-ryeong."

"Chieftain Jo."

Hwang Hye-ryeong bowed her head to Jo Yun-san.

"You've become a proper lady now. You could be married off."

"You still look as vigorous as ever, Chieftain."

"Is that how I seem?"

"Yes!"

"Thank you."

Jo Yun-san nodded.

His words were warm, but his eyes gleamed colder and sharper than ever.

"I heard you were in Akyang. Is that correct?"

"That's right."

"Then might you have seen Gwa Cheol?"

"You mean Vice Chieftain Gwak?"

"That's right."

"I didn't see him."

"Truly?"

"Truly. Why do you ask me?"

"Gwa Cheol went to Akyang and has since dropped out of contact."

"Why would Vice Chieftain Gwak go to Akyang?"

"He said he had an acquaintance there. Since you were in Akyang, I thought you might know. Don't worry about it."

"Yes!"

Jo Yun-san studied Hwang Hye-ryeong with a keen, probing gaze.

'Does she truly not know?'

Hwang Hye-ryeong wore an expression that suggested she genuinely knew nothing.

Gwa Cheol had carried out his orders to inform the Murim Alliance of Hwang Hye-ryeong's existence.

As a result, warriors from the Namgung Family and the Murim Alliance had moved to capture her. But Dam Ho alone had thwarted their plans.

That much was acceptable. In life, even the most carefully laid schemes sometimes came to nothing.

The problem was that his faithful subordinate, Vice Chieftain of the Black Dragon Stronghold Gwa Cheol, had vanished without a trace.

Gwa Cheol was no ordinary subordinate. He was a trusted confidant who could read his deepest thoughts, loyal to the point of leaping into a fire without hesitation if so commanded.

Above all, Gwa Cheol had followed him for over twenty years. The bond between them was deeper than blood.

And now Gwa Cheol's trail had gone cold—as if he had vanished from the face of the earth.

That was when Jo Yun-san had begun to feel an inexplicable unease.

Jo Yun-san's gaze shifted away from Hwang Hye-ryeong.

He saw Muk Il-gwang, and a stout young boy.

And then—a young man he had never seen before.

Leather robes black as pitch, hair as dark and wild as a wolf's, and through it all, eyes of the deepest black.

Jo Yun-san furrowed his brow. The moment his eyes met Dam Ho's, he felt an indescribable, creeping dread.

It was as though countless ants crawled over his skin. He had never felt such a sensation in all his life.

Jo Yun-san found himself asking before he could stop himself.

"Who are you?"

The man—Dam Ho—did not answer.

Instead, he stared directly at Jo Yun-san. His dark eyes were filled with Jo Yun-san's reflection.

Then a smile spread across Dam Ho's lips, slowly, like a wildfire consuming dry brush. At the sight of that creeping smile, Jo Yun-san felt a wave of inexplicable dread.

"You! Who are you?"

His voice rose involuntarily.

Dam Ho, who had been staring at Jo Yun-san, finally spoke.

"Seems you don't remember."

"What?"

"I remember it clearly, though."

"Have we met before?"

At Jo Yun-san's question, Dam Ho remained silent. At his silence, Jo Xin-chung—the confidant at his side—stepped forward in anger.

"The Chieftain is speaking to you! Answer at once!"

Jo Xin-chung stood seven feet tall and possessed extraordinary natural strength. Within the Black Dragon Stronghold, there was no one who could match him.

At Jo Xin-chung's shout, all eyes in the hall turned toward them. The one who grew most flustered was Hwang Hye-ryeong.

Knowing Dam Ho's temperament well, she stepped forward quickly.

"This is Great Hero Dam Ho, the Fist Demon."

"The Fist Demon?"

Jo Xin-chung, who had stepped forward with such bravado, let his eyes go wide.

He had heard the rumors of the Fist Demon well. In the current martial world, no figure carried a more fearsome reputation than Dam Ho.

"Are you truly the Fist Demon?"

Dam Ho's gaze shifted to Jo Xin-chung.

"Hmph!"

The moment those emotionless, pitch-black eyes fixed upon him, Jo Xin-chung gasped without meaning to.

He felt in his entire body what it was to be a frog before a snake.

He could not move. The moment he did, he felt certain he would be devoured.

"If you interfere one more time, I will ensure you never again chew food with your teeth."

"……"

Jo Xin-chung clamped his mouth shut without realizing it.

In the martial world, Dam Ho was known as a man who never spoke a word he did not keep. That almost no one had survived crossing him—that fact proved the truth of the rumors.

Jo Yun-san's eyes narrowed.

"So it really is the Fist Demon. What business does the Fist Demon have in a remote mountain village like this?"

"Is the Tyrant's Stronghold a remote mountain village?"

"……"

Jo Yun-san could not answer. To agree would be to humiliate the Tyrant's Stronghold and Hwang Gyeong-mun before everyone.

Instead, he changed the subject.

"You speak well."

"My fists speak even better."

"Are you picking a fight with me now?"

"You started it."

"You—!"

"I didn't know before, but you seem to be truly stupid."

In an instant, a terrifying killing intent exploded from Jo Yun-san's entire body.

"Urgh!"

"Hah!"

The nearby martial artists recoiled, driven back by the sheer pressure of that killing intent. But Dam Ho, who was at its center, did not so much as flinch.

"Do you have a death wish? This is the headquarters of the forest alliances. Your petty reputation means nothing here."

"Shall we put that to the test?"

"You?"

Dam Ho rose to his feet. Jo Yun-san flinched, taking a step backward.

Humiliation colored Jo Yun-san's face.

As a man who aspired to become Grand Chieftain of the forest, being forced back by his opponent's sheer presence was a blow to his pride.

Dam Ho's eyes revealed not the slightest flicker of emotion.

This was the enemy he met after more than twenty years. He had thought that meeting him would send his blood boiling with rage, yet he found himself perfectly composed, as if doused in ice water.

Jo Yun-san was on the verge of erupting when—

"He is my guest. He saved my daughter from peril. Treat him with respect."

Hwang Gyeong-mun's authoritative voice rang out.

Before the supreme ruler of the forest, Jo Yun-san had no choice but to swallow his anger. But he did not forget to issue a warning.

"You would do well to be careful. If you cross my path again, I will not let it go."

"You'd do well to take in the scenery while you can."

"What?"

"Look your fill while you're still alive. That way, you won't have regrets in death."

"So you really are—"

"Chieftain Jo."

Had Hwang Gyeong-mun's voice not come a second time, Jo Yun-san would have lunged at Dam Ho without a moment's hesitation.

Jo Yun-san was known for his composure above all else, yet somehow Dam Ho's provocations shook him to his core. This was a first for him, and he could not suppress his bewilderment.

'Damn you!'

He stared at Dam Ho for a long while, then turned on his heel.

'I will never let this go. To think he would dare provoke me with nothing but a hollow reputation.'

His shoulders trembled with intermittent spasms.

Dam Ho watched Jo Yun-san's retreating figure.

"Brother."

"Brother!"

Hwang Hye-ryeong and Bang Jin-bo called out to Dam Ho at the same time. Only then did Dam Ho withdraw his gaze from Jo Yun-san.

"Brother, I'm sorry… this is because of me—"

Hwang Hye-ryeong's face was full of guilt.

She had mistaken Dam Ho's intervention as having been done for her sake.

"It's nothing."

Dam Ho reached out with his large hand and lightly touched her head. It was an improper gesture toward a grown woman. Yet Hwang Hye-ryeong felt no resistance to it.

It was the very opposite of the revulsion she always felt when looking at Jo Yun-san.

She had only met Jo Yun-san, Chieftain of the Black Dragon Stronghold, a handful of times. But each time she met him, she instinctively felt repulsed.

She despised everything about Jo Yun-san.

Jo Yun-san would sometimes say incomprehensible things—about events from her early childhood that she herself could not remember.

And so she did not realize that what made her feel even greater revulsion toward Jo Yun-san was—

'Brother.'

Conversely, whenever she looked at Dam Ho, an inexplicable sense of relief filled her heart.

At that moment—

"Ho ho! So the great hero of the world was here all along."

A voice thick with seduction echoed in Dam Ho's ear.

He turned to find a voluptuous woman approaching with a swaying gait.

Lee Ga-heun, Chieftain of the Blue River Stronghold.

She was a formidable woman who, despite her gender, had risen to the seat of Chieftain of one of the Eighteen Forest Strongholds.

Countless forest warriors had fallen for her seductive beauty and met their end.

Her epithet was the Serpent Scorpion Demoness.

The Serpent Scorpion Demoness, Lee Ga-heun, sat down naturally beside Dam Ho.

"My name is Lee Ga-heun. It's a pleasure, Great Hero Dam."

"……"

"You seem even more stoic than I imagined. There's no need to be so guarded. I have favorable intentions toward you."

Lee Ga-heun shifted closer, pressing her hip against his.

The air around them grew instantly heated.

A seductive smile graced Lee Ga-heun's face.

She felt an overwhelming attraction to Dam Ho.

In the martial world, power was law. In her eyes, Dam Ho was the strong.

'Ho ho! If I could wrap this man around my finger, ruling the entire forest would be no dream.'

She was an exceedingly ambitious woman.

For now, she was allied with Jo Yun-san, but should Dam Ho prove more appealing, she was ready to switch sides at a moment's notice.

"Great Hero Dam."

"In heat?"

"What?"

"I can smell it on you."

In an instant, not only Lee Ga-heun but every person nearby turned pale as death.

Jin Ja-gang standing on the railing looked at Jeok Yul with an expression asking what he meant…

Suddenly at that moment, the pillar made a cracking sound and slid sideways. The middle had been sharply cut diagonally and slipped!

Jin Ja-gang standing on the second-floor railing swayed.

Creak, creak!

The railing with its pillar cut away began to tilt diagonally and topple over. The wooden beams connecting the railing and the wooden building attached to the back couldn’t bear the weight and began to break and tear as they tilted.

Crack!

The already fire-weakened second floor collapsed entirely along with the roof and came pouring down. Jin Ja-gang likewise fell together with the mass of the railing.

Jin Ja-gang kicked off from the railing and reached upward. He grabbed the beam supporting the roof and climbed onto the tilting roof. Flames surged up between the roof tiles.

Jin Ja-gang continued crawling up the tilting roof. Standing on the collapsing roof, he kicked the roof tiles away with his feet.

Rumble!

Jeok Yul watched the burning pillars and wooden railings pouring down over his head but didn’t dodge. He simply stood there swinging his sword.

Slash! Slice!

Whatever was pouring toward Jeok Yul, regardless of what kind of material it was, was cut in half and fell in pieces. As if nothing could harm him, Jeok Yul didn’t move a single step.

Crash, clang!

The roof tiles cut by his sword fell and continued to shatter.

Thud!

The cut pillar fell to the ground and other pillars became entangled on top of it, so the second floor and roof remained half-tilted without falling further.

This was fortunate for Jin Ja-gang. Jin Ja-gang climbed up to the ridge at the very top of the slanted roof. Smoke and flames were concealing Jin Ja-gang’s body.

Jin Ja-gang stamped his feet forcefully and pushed the roof tiles.

Dozens of remaining roof tiles slid down in a line all at once. The roof tiles poured down like a waterfall and fell in a mass over Jeok Yul’s head. His experience of placing tiles at Poison Valley to understand the structure helped at this moment.

Rumble.

At that moment, Jin Ja-gang quickly flicked his hands.

Three long needles flew. The long needles hid in the shadows of the falling roof tiles.

Crash! Crash!

Jeok Yul kept swinging his sword to knock away the roof tiles when he suddenly saw a black dot shooting up from beneath the tiles.

A dot piercing through the shadows of the flickering, burning roof tiles!

It had already flown right in front of Jeok Yul’s eyes. Jeok Yul widened his eyes and twisted his waist and neck.

Swish.

He clearly saw one black-painted needle graze past his eye area. Jeok Yul straightened his waist back to normal while spinning the sword once in his hand to grip it in reverse. Then he extended his hand upward.

Jeok Yul’s eyes flashed.

He quickly shook the reverse-gripped sword left and right.

Ting!

With small metallic sounds, two needles were deflected. Jeok Yul again corrected his grip on the sword and struck down the things flying toward him.

Not just roof tiles, but burned and broken beams, planks, wooden posts… all kinds of things poured down.

Thwack!

While cutting dozens of roof tiles, Jeok Yul’s eyes suddenly rolled upward.

He saw sparks flying from beneath the roof tile he had just split in two. He also saw a bamboo piece sticking out from underneath.

Instantly, Jeok Yul leaped into the air.

Boom!

Jin Ja-gang’s special explosive made by mixing manure and needles in a bamboo tube had exploded. Jeok Yul shot upward while stepping on the roof tiles. The needles that exploded beneath his feet were blocked by the falling roof tiles.

Jin Ja-gang didn’t miss the timing and threw needles in succession.

Pop pop pop!

Jeok Yul again stepped on roof tiles and leaped up, doing three somersaults in the air to avoid the needles.

While doing so, he approached the ridge where Jin Ja-gang was in one swift movement.

As soon as Jin Ja-gang saw his attack had failed, he leaped over the ridge to the opposite side of the roof.

The fire and smoke rose thickly, concealing Jin Ja-gang’s form.

Jeok Yul, who had twisted his body in mid-air to look down, frowned because he couldn’t see Jin Ja-gang due to the smoke. If hidden weapons were thrown from within the smoke again, it would be difficult to avoid them.

Jeok Yul quickly used the Thousand Pound Drop technique to put weight on his feet and straightened his body in mid-air before dropping straight down onto the ridge.

However, the moment he landed on the ridge, Jeok Yul’s face greatly contorted.

“Kugh!”

The corners of Jeok Yul’s eyes trembled.

A long needle was sticking up through his left foot, having pierced it.

“When!”

Next to it, several thick, long, ominously black needles were embedded. Wherever he had stepped on the ridge, he would have met the same fate.

Whether it was done deliberately, the tips of the needles weren’t pointed like awls but slanted like blades.

With ordinary needles, if you stepped on them wrong, the needle might break, but with blades standing upward at an angle like this, leather shoes would slip and the blades would tear through the sole and into the foot. Even if stepped on with the heel, they would cut through calluses and penetrate.

This would make wounds much more severe, creating long lacerations.

Just as Jeok Yul was about to pull out his foot, Jin Ja-gang suddenly burst out of the smoke swinging a sickle.

Jeok Yul hastily swung his sword to block the sickle. He was too rushed to even generate sword energy.

Clang!

The moment the sword and sickle collided, Jin Ja-gang pushed his arm forward. The sickle slid down along the blade, aiming for Jeok Yul’s fingers gripping the handle.

Scrape!

Sparks flew.

Jeok Yul twisted his wrist as much as possible and blocked the sickle with the guard ring that protected the hand between the sword handle and blade.

Jeok Yul tried to push Jin Ja-gang’s shoulder with his other hand that wasn’t holding the sword. Jin Ja-gang, as if he had expected this, was already pulling his body back, so Jeok Yul’s hand struck empty air.

Grind.

Jeok Yul ground his teeth and glared at Jin Ja-gang.

“This b*st*rd… how did you know I would come up like that…!”

“I just planted them. I knew you would definitely step there because of the smoke.”

Jeok Yul gritted his teeth both from pain and from being caught off guard by Jin Ja-gang.

No, he hadn’t been caught off guard without reason. There was a reason he deserved to be caught… When Jin Ja-gang retreated and hid his body in the smoke, Jeok Yul thought Jin Ja-gang would throw hidden weapons from within the smoke or launch a surprise attack. So he had concentrated all his nerves on the smoke side and quickly jumped down.

It was natural to think that way since Jin Ja-gang had been continuously throwing hidden weapons from the beginning.

But the attack he had really been aiming for was needles hidden beneath his feet…!

He recalled what Shin Yung had said about Snake Scorpion Poison King.

“His martial arts aren’t particularly great, but his poison techniques are excellent…”

That was exactly right. At the time, he had laughed it off thinking he got poisoned from eating some candy, but that wasn’t it.

‘Grrr…!’

Most martial artists who have trained for a long time react with their bodies before thinking. This is because they repeatedly train until their bodies move to match their opponent’s attacks.

However, this fight was different.

Jin Ja-gang wasn’t facing him with martial arts alone but was using terrain, hidden weapons, traps, and even psychology. It was a fight where you had to use your head every moment while fighting. A fight where you had to constantly think and watch even the smallest things without missing anything, turning your head.

This kind of method couldn’t be familiar to martial artists who had always just held swords!

Sweat began to form on Jeok Yul’s forehead and the ends of his hair and clothes began to singe from the heat. Not knowing what Jin Ja-gang might do next, he was on edge and couldn’t move rashly.

Blaze, blaze.

Jin Ja-gang seemed not to feel the heat at all, keeping half his body immersed in flames and smoke. Jeok Yul’s movement wasn’t free and he wanted to quickly pull out his foot, but the needle was sticking out so long that he would have to lift his knee to pull out his foot.

It was so sharp that if he moved wrong, his foot might split in two, and if he didn’t apply pressure to acupoints immediately after pulling it out, the bleeding would be very severe. Naturally, his opponent wouldn’t let him do that easily.

Jeok Yul was watching for an opportunity while keeping his foot attached. Blood flowing down under his sole was sticky, and as poison began to circulate, his leg gradually began to ache.

However, Jin Ja-gang only glared but didn’t rashly charge in. He was buying time. After all, the needles were certainly coated with poison and he was the one suffering severe bleeding.

He had to admit that the guy was unexpectedly tenaciously patient and quick-thinking.

Jeok Yul spoke to him.

“Isn’t it hot?”

He himself was hot, so how much more so for Jin Ja-gang who was right close to the fire.

Sparks had already flown onto his collar, creating holes here and there. But Jin Ja-gang’s expression didn’t change at all.

“You’ll die before I burn to death.”

“It would be a shame if that pretty face got burned.”

“A face is useless if you’re dead.”

The moment Jin Ja-gang spoke, Jeok Yul quickly pressed the blood point on his left leg. He had to stop not only the poison but also the bleeding.

At the same time, Jin Ja-gang also charged in. Even if he couldn’t help the acupoint pressing, he would prevent him from pulling out his foot. Jin Ja-gang lowered his body and swung the sickle downward, aiming for Jeok Yul’s healthy right foot.

Jeok Yul struck down with his sword from above. Even if Jin Ja-gang cut his right foot, Jin Ja-gang would die with a sword stuck in his back.

But Jin Ja-gang didn’t stop.

Jeok Yul was certainly a martial artist with abundant experience, and as a vassal family of the Zhuge family, he had worked like hands and feet. Recently, even while hearing that the Zhuge family wasn’t acting like the Zhuge family, he had still faithfully carried out all orders without questioning his work.

However, this time even Jeok Yul hesitated for just a moment. If Jin Ja-gang died, that would be the end, but he would lose both feet. Not just one arm or one leg, but losing both feet would instantly make him useless!

No, would such a clever guy really charge in recklessly? Perhaps he was inducing his carelessness? Rather than killing, wouldn’t he just lose his legs and die a dog’s death?

If not that, then what grudge did he have to charge in for mutual destruction?

Just moments ago, he had been the one who said a face was useless if dead and didn’t fear burns. If he cut off his two feet and then died, there would be no benefit to himself. Why would he do something with no benefit?

Caught up in the psychological warfare due to Jin Ja-gang’s inconsistent actions, Jeok Yul’s head became complicated. In the end, he missed the timing to attack Jin Ja-gang.

There was only one method.

Jeok Yul gave up on killing Jin Ja-gang and put internal energy into his right foot to stomp down.

Boom!

Rumble.

The roof that was already burning, collapsed, and tilted gave way. The entire ridge crumbled and Jin Ja-gang, who had been charging, also fell down together. Instead, Jeok Yul was able to pull out his left foot with that recoil and leap into the air.

Seeing Jin Ja-gang fall to the first floor of the inn while somehow looking regretful, Jeok Yul felt chills down his spine. There had definitely been something there for certain.

Jeok Yul threw his body backward and landed on the ground, rolling.

The Zhuge family warriors rushed over to support Jeok Yul. Jeok Yul’s pride was greatly hurt by the fact that he had been pushed back and fled from an opponent who wouldn’t be a handful in a fair fight.

But anyway, he had preserved his life, so it was fortunate. Jeok Yul took out antidotes and internal injury medicine from his chest, threw them in his mouth, then shouted.

“Catch that b*st*rd!”

Soon his adjutant raised several flags.

If Jeok Yul was in charge of force, the adjutant was the flag commander who led the formation. Though not as much as the Zhuge family bloodline, they were composed of those who could lead the Nine Palace Eight Trigram Formation to some degree.

Starting from a minimum of nine people forming a formation and extending to thousands occupying a region, the Nine Palace Eight Trigram Formation was the Zhuge family’s representative formation.

When the adjutant raised and waved five-colored flags, fifty martial artists began gathering in groups of three to five, drawing a large semicircle to surround the burning inn.

Jin Ja-gang burst out of the burning inn and ran toward the inner part of the village. The inner part of the village had wind blowing that way, so the flames were much more severe than at the entrance.

However, since Jin Ja-gang was entering, the Zhuge family couldn’t just watch.

When the adjutant took charge of the center palace and ran from the middle of the formation, the warriors also began running together. The sight of fifty warriors running in unison while maintaining formation was quite spectacular.

Jin Ja-gang, who had been fleeing, stopped in front of an alley between burning houses.

The adjutant raised blue and black flags while running.

The warriors corresponding to Wood and Water respectively split to both sides and began spreading widely to both sides of the alley. They seemed to be forming a large encirclement.

And the remaining warriors protected the flag commander of the center palace while charging straight toward Jin Ja-gang.

Jin Ja-gang stood tall, watching them. The houses on both sides of the alley where Jin Ja-gang stood were already burning fiercely, so Jin Ja-gang appeared to be standing in front of a burning gate.

“Now we’ll soon see which side has opened the gates of hell.”

Jin Ja-gang said this, then turned his body and entered the burning alley.