Chapter 154

Chapter 154: Every Meeting Must Come to an End (1)

Pitter-patter!

A rain of blood poured down.

The scattered crimson drops stained the Overlord Outfit a deep scarlet. To an uninformed observer, the scene might have appeared dreamlike, almost beautiful.

Wham!

With a thunderous impact, a Dark Ghost's body exploded. Shattered flesh and blood drenched the other Dark Ghosts in red.

Had they been ordinary warriors, they might have wavered. But there was not a trace of hesitation on the faces of the Dark Ghosts.

These were the Dark Ghosts who had hidden themselves away for thirty long years. They were prepared to sacrifice their lives without hesitation for the glory of the Demonic Cult.

"Die!"

They attacked Dam Ho, disregarding their own lives entirely.

Boom!

Dam Ho's strike claimed yet another Dark Ghost's life. Still, they did not falter.

'We must kill him.'

'If we let him live, he will surely become a great calamity for the Holy Cult.'

A being like Dam Ho would never forget a grudge.

No matter how trivial the offense, he would remember it until the very end and exact his revenge. That was the terrible nature of his character.

The Demonic Cult and Dam Ho had already forged a bond of enmity. If they let him go now, the consequences would be endless.

They knew this all too well, which was why they fought with everything they had. They unleashed the ultimate techniques they had cultivated in secret for thirty years.

Warriors capable of erasing several mid-sized sects in a single night were attacking Dam Ho with their full strength. That was why even Dam Ho's body was gradually accumulating wounds, despite deflecting the ordinary attacks with his Golden Ring Shield.

Crack!

The Fortress Breaking Fist sent the head of a charging warrior flying.

Dam Ho's body leapt into the air, his right leg tracing an eerie arc.

Crunch!

"Gahuk!"

The Shattering Kick pierced through the opponent's chest.

It was not over.

Dam Ho landed on the ground and, without a moment's respite, seized his next opponent by the collar.

"Wh-What?"

The opponent's body was launched into the air as though swept up in a tornado.

A swift reversal. Head and legs were flipped.

It was a Heaven-Splitting Strike.

Crack!

The head of the man driven into the ground shattered like a watermelon. The body, still twitching for a moment before going limp, crumpled lifelessly.

Shhk!

In the meantime, a sword had pierced Dam Ho's side. But Dam Ho did not stop. It was merely a flesh wound.

It posed no impediment to his movement.

The Three-Strike Shadow Fist sent three Dark Ghosts charging from different directions to their graves.

Bodies piled at Dam Ho's feet.

One, two, steadily the corpses accumulated until they formed a mound, and blood pooled upon the floor.

Dam Ho pressed forward, drenched in the blood of the Dark Ghosts. At the end of his path stood Yun Chung.

In that moment, Yun Chung's face was twisted into a mask of anguish.

The Dark Ghosts he had painstakingly nurtured over thirty years were falling like flies before Dam Ho.

The Dark Ghosts surged like a black tide, attacking Dam Ho in waves. But even their relentless assault could not halt Dam Ho's advance.

Dam Ho was a sword that cleaved through the tide.

Already, more than fifty Dark Ghosts had perished at his hands. Dam Ho, bathed in their blood, was a sight too horrifying to behold even in a nightmare.

"You… you monster!"

If they lost any more Dark Ghosts, they would not only fail to seize the green forest but would be unable to even preserve their own lives.

Yun Chung realized that the moment had come for him to step forward.

"Hyah! Azure Lotus Slaughter Wind!"

One of the Demonic Cult's secret techniques, the Azure Fiend Demonic Energy, was unleashed.

A stream of azure energy hurtled toward Dam Ho.

Dam Ho deployed his Charging Step, attempting to evade the energy.

Suddenly, three Dark Ghosts seized his arms and legs.

"We're coming with you, Fist Demon!"

"Flames of Eternity! Protect us!"

The voices of the Dark Ghosts holding Dam Ho were filled with blind fanaticism.

In the Demonic Cult, death was not an end but a beginning. And so there was nothing to fear.

To die for the Demonic Cult was an endless glory, a path to paradise even in death.

Dam Ho saw the fanaticism burning in their eyes. Any ordinary person would have been shaken by the blind madness the Dark Ghosts exuded.

But such fanaticism could not affect Dam Ho in the slightest.

Dam Ho brought both arms together at his chest. The two men gripping his arms were pulled along with the motion.

Crash!

The energy struck moments later. Dam Ho had used the Dark Ghosts as human shields.

The Dark Ghosts hit by the energy were reduced to pulp and sent flying.

Dam Ho drove his knee into the head of the Dark Ghost who held his leg.

Snap!

The Dark Ghost's head crumbled like tofu.

Dam Ho kicked the now headless torso away.

Whoosh!

The body flew through the air. Yun Chung was standing there.

"Gahuk!"

Even the most cold-blooded Yun Chung could not remain unmoved when the corpse of a subordinate he had shared thirty years with came hurtling toward him.

Yun Chung gritted his teeth and struck the body away with his palm.

Wham!

His single palm strike caused the Dark Ghost's body to explode.

Dam Ho, bathed in the blood of the Dark Ghosts, resembled a blood demon incarnate.

He never spared a single Dark Ghost that charged at him. The Dark Ghosts fought with desperate ferocity, but the gap in their abilities was simply too vast.

The Dark Ghosts had spent decades in rigorous training, but because they feared their identities being exposed, they had never once used the Demonic Cult's martial arts in actual combat. As a result, there existed an ineffable awkwardness in their execution.

Dam Ho, on the other hand, had used his martial arts in countless real battles.

His singular combat style had been tempered through real combat, and he felt no hesitation whatsoever when it came to drawing blood.

"How can a cripple…"

Yun Chung could not believe what was happening before his eyes.

Everything he had painstakingly built was crumbling at Dam Ho's hands.

The Fist Demon.

Only now did he understand why the word "Demon" was part of Dam Ho's title.

Dam Ho was a demon who had risen from hell.

He was hungry for blood, and he would tolerate nothing that stood in his way.

Between the strands of his blood-matted hair, pitch-black eyes glinted. Those emotionless, abyssal eyes were truly terrifying.

"Ngh!"

A groan escaped his lips involuntarily.

Until now, there had been only one being who had inspired such fear in him.

Kang Wi, one of the Demonic Cult's Four Great Generals.

Kang Wi possessed an primal aura that instilled terror, regardless of martial skill.

Yun Chung had believed that no one could possess a greater aura than Kang Wi. But the aura of Dam Ho standing before him now surpassed Kang Wi's with room to spare.

Tremble!

Goosebumps rose on his skin, and his body trembled involuntarily.

Overwhelmed by Dam Ho's aura, he had lost all composure regardless of martial skill.

The surviving Dark Ghosts stepped forward to block Dam Ho.

"My Lord, please retreat!"

"We will hold him off!"

They too sensed it instinctively. That they alone could not stop Dam Ho.

Dam Ho was an existence on an entirely different level.

'At the very least, it would take someone of the Four Great Generals or the Seven Great Demon Lords to stand against him.'

The Four Great Generals and the Seven Great Demon Lords were the absolute pinnacle of the Demonic Cult's warriors.

They rarely appeared in the Murim, but when they did, they brought catastrophe in their wake.

So Cheonsan, the Ten-Li Reaper, who had annihilated the追踪 teams of the Murim Alliance, was one of the Seven Great Demon Lords.

The Dark Ghosts regarded Dam Ho as a warrior of their caliber.

It was an assessment that would have stunned anyone who knew even a little about the Four Great Generals or the Seven Great Demon Lords.

Crash!

Dam Ho's strike sent several Dark Ghosts flying, their bodies crushed like fish paste.

Though he had killed so many, there was no trace of exhaustion on Dam Ho's body.

"Gahuk!"

In the end, Yun Chung chose to flee.

It was humiliating, but now was the time to plan for the future.

The surviving Dark Ghosts attacked Dam Ho in unison, and Yun Chung turned to flee.

Boom!

In that instant, a tremendous explosion shook the Overlord Outfit.

The shockwave reached Yun Chung's back.

'What on earth?'

Something had happened. But he did not dare to look back. He feared that if he turned around, he would see Dam Ho's blood-streaked face staring at him.

Pitter-patter!

Chunks of bloody flesh fell around him.

His heart seemed to plummet into his stomach.

Whoosh!

In that moment, a powerful gust of wind struck his back.

Yun Chung instinctively ducked his head. Something grazed along his spine and the back of his skull.

"Gahuk!"

A searing pain, as though he had been burned by fire, drew a scream from Yun Chung.

He raised his head. There stood Dam Ho, already before him.

After sending the Dark Ghosts flying with a Single Strike Wall, Dam Ho had deployed his Charging Step to catch up. Then he had struck with the Blood Heaven Kick.

By the narrowest of margins, Yun Chung had evaded the Blood Heaven Kick. But across his back remained the mark where Dam Ho's leg had grazed him.

His robes were torn, and the flesh beneath was blackened. He had truly escaped with his life by a hair's breadth.

But Yun Chung's crisis was not yet over.

Whoosh!

Dam Ho's fist lashed out like a whip. It was the Single Yang Strike.

Yun Chung hastily deployed his Azure Fiend Demonic Energy to shield his body. But Dam Ho's fist, curving in at an impossible angle, struck his shoulder.

Wham!

Yun Chung's body lurched violently.

Again the Single Yang Strike flew toward him. Yun Chung hurriedly gathered what energy he had and blocked with his forearm.

Boom!

Like being struck by a sledgehammer, a tremendous shock coursed through him, and his body heaved.

The searing pain shattered the composure he had struggled to maintain.

Dam Ho's Single Yang Strike continued to fly at him.

The same technique, the same trajectory.

"Are you looking down on me?"

Yun Chung roared.

Though he had been reduced to a wretched state, he was still a master who could project energy.

Yun Chung gathered energy to protect himself. But before he could fully circulate his power, the Single Yang Strike landed.

Though it appeared light, the Single Yang Strike contained a tremendous amount of internal force. Each time it struck, the energy Yun Chung had painstakingly gathered was thrown into disarray.

Nosebleeds erupted, and bruises spread rapidly across his body.

Unable to endure the pain, a gap opened in Yun Chung's defense.

Wham!

In that instant, the Shattering Kick flew at him.

Smack!

"Gah!"

The Shattering Kick struck his abdomen, and a ghastly groan escaped his lips. In that moment, Dam Ho's knee crashed into his face.

Yun Chung collapsed without even a scream.

Dam Ho seized the falling Yun Chung by the collar and lifted him.

Their eyes met.

In Dam Ho's pitch-black pupils, Yun Chung saw his own terror reflected.

Dam Ho had not employed any technique that could be called a supreme art against Yun Chung. With nothing more than the Single Yang Strike and the Shattering Kick, he had brought down an absolute master.

"Shatter every last limb and grind your bones to dust, was it?"

"That… that was…"

Crack!

In that instant, Dam Ho seized Yun Chung's arms and twisted. As Yun Chung's mouth fell open in agony, Dam Ho drove his right knee into both of his knees.

Snap!

Both knees shattered, and Yun Chung collapsed. But he could not even sit in peace. Dam Ho seized his collar once more and lifted him.

"You… demon!"

"Yes! That's me."

"You will be cursed."

"I'm counting on it."

Dam Ho lifted Yun Chung's body overhead and drove it into the ground. It was a Heaven-Splitting Strike.

Kraa-boom!

Yun Chung's head, colliding with the earth, shattered into pieces.

For a moment, the body twitched. Then it crumpled.

Silence descended upon the hall.