Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Finding a Path in the Darkness (2)

Dam Ho opened his eyes. Before him lay a sealed chamber—a subterranean space that was the most confined among the underground caverns. This cramped quarters was his only refuge.

The underground space bore traces of someone having used it long ago, and it had become Dam Ho's sole place of rest.

At one end of the chamber stood a stone bed carved from rock. From it rose a bone-chilling cold, and upon this frigid surface Dam Ho slept.

The relentless chill tormented him, and to endure the cold, Dam Ho was forced to circulate his energy at all times.

Dam Ho turned his head and looked at the wall beside him. Characters carved as though by a very sharp instrument came into view.

"Kwon Yul-cheon—here I bury my friends."

These were words left by the one who had preceded Dam Ho as master of this place.

Since the writing was visible the moment he turned his head, Dam Ho saw it every time he opened his eyes. Similar inscriptions were carved throughout the walls.

They were all words left by the former occupants of this place. Some had carved despair; others, hope.

What had become of them, Dam Ho did not know. Nor did he care.

Dam Ho's concern was the present. Surviving the present by any means. And then, escaping.

Dam Ho left the chamber and made his way to the main cavern.

At last, he stopped before an enormous boulder.

Among the mass of rocks and earth that had flooded into the cavern, this was the largest and most solid.

It blocked the entrance to the cavern like a gatekeeper. But its massive body bore scars and gashes here and there. Not long ago, its surface had been smooth as a mirror.

The reason became clear soon enough.

Thud!

Dam Ho's leg struck the boulder. The point of impact shattered, and fragments flew in all directions.

It was not his uninjured leg but his left. Yet the surface of the boulder cracked.

Dam Ho struck again.

Thud! Thud!

The heavy impacts echoed through the dark underground space. The reverberations lingered for a long time afterward.

***

Crack!

A fissure appeared in the massive boulder. Starting from the bottom, the crack raced upward, spreading across the entire surface in an instant.

Crumble!

The great boulder screamed as it collapsed.

Dam Ho gazed at the shattered stone with impassive eyes.

The boulder could not have broken of its own accord. Dam Ho's fist had destroyed it. And though the boulder was shattered, Dam Ho's fist bore not a single wound.

Calluses as hard as stone protruded from his knuckles, giving his fist the appearance of a war hammer.

Dam Ho slowly curled and uncurled his fingers. The sensation was not unpleasant.

Though the great boulder was destroyed, the mass of earth and rubble that blocked his path remained unchanged. He had barely entered the threshold.

How many more times would he have to swing his fist to obtain what he desired? But Dam Ho did not worry.

In this dreary place, all that remained for him was time. He was more than willing to keep swinging.

Dam Ho's fist struck the boulder once more. Each time, the rock groaned with a heavy cry.

Thud! Thud!

A single obsession—to destroy.

The will to break free from everything that bound him drove him forward.

Dam Ho stepped back for a moment.

Snap!

In an instant, Dam Ho's body closed a distance of more than ten rooms and shot forward.

Charging Step—a footwork like a battering ram breaching a city gate—and then, the Fortress Breaking Fist.

Crash!

The great boulder shattered, and stone fragments scattered in every direction.

Dam Ho's eyes gleamed with a chilling light in the darkness.

These were the Charging Step and the Fortress Breaking Fist that he and Sage Hyeon-so had created together. When they had first conceived these martial arts, they had been imbued with the profound principles of the Mount Hua Sect.

But the Charging Step and Fortress Breaking Fist he now deployed contained no trace of mercy, nor any vestige of the Dao.

At some point, the Demonic Cult's martial arts had seeped into Dam Ho's techniques.

The subtle principles of the Three Strikes Cannon Shadow Fist had fused with the Fortress Breaking Fist. The essence of the Demon-Splitting Kick had merged with the Charging Step. The Broad Compression Palm was reborn as an entirely new martial art. The Heavy Heaven Heart Method had evolved further, blending with the Demonic Cult's heart techniques to become something altogether new.

The martial arts of the Mount Hua Sect and those of the Demonic Cult—two traditions that should never have been compatible—had merged within his body.

Dam Ho was a devourer.

For the sake of growing stronger, he would gladly embrace demonic arts.

The martial arts he had created with Sage Hyeon-so had transformed beyond recognition. Even Sage Hyeon-so himself would not have been able to identify them.

The damp, isolated environment had made Dam Ho's character more withdrawn and more lethal.

Dam Ho's daily routine turned like a hamster's wheel.

After a brief sleep, he would circulate his energy. Then he would move to the Myriad Demon Archive and immerse himself in martial arts texts. After that, he would go to the pool and catch monstrous fish to eat.

Then he would face the boulders that blocked the cavern and unleash his martial arts upon them.

The boulders were his enemy, and the massive walls of earth were his obstacles.

He broke them, and broke them again.

When exhaustion overcame him, he would rest, circulate his energy, and sleep.

There was nothing else to do in this place.

Darkness drives men mad. Especially spending years alone in isolation—such a fate was conducive to losing one's sanity.

To avoid madness, one had to give one's best to even the smallest task.

'Perhaps I am already mad.'

Madness need not always manifest as outward frenzy.

One could be coldly, lucidly mad.

To maintain a reason as cold as ice, yet to be capable of unleashing madness whenever the need arose—

Dam Ho believed he had reached such a state.

This was a place where one could not endure without going mad.

Crack!

A single blow from his Fortress Breaking Fist shattered a large boulder.

Dam Ho was about to launch another Fortress Breaking Fist from habit—

Whirrr!

Suddenly, from between the earth and rubble, tiny insects swarmed forth in a black cloud, flying directly at Dam Ho.

'Ants?'

The insects, smaller than grains of rice, were undoubtedly ants. But unlike ordinary ants, they possessed wings.

In a normal ant colony, winged ants constituted only a tiny fraction. But every single ant now flying toward Dam Ho had wings.

This was no ordinary colony. To prove it, the ants attacked Dam Ho in unison, attempting to bite.

Dam Ho retreated hastily and deployed the Fortress Breaking Fist.

Whoom!

The Fortress Breaking Fist could obliterate even a great boulder in a single blow. Yet it proved futile against the ants—they were entirely unaffected.

The ants, momentarily blown back by the wind, regrouped and several of them secretly latched onto Dam Ho and bit him.

In that instant, a deep furrow carved itself between Dam Ho' brows. From the bite marks came pain and itching beyond imagination.

'Poisonous ants?'

Dam Ho retreated swiftly. In the interim, he was bitten several more times.

The bitten areas swelled up instantly.

"Kugh!"

A muffled groan escaped through Dam Ho's clenched lips.

Dam Ho's wide-open eyes became bloodshot. The pain and itching that began at the bite marks spread throughout his entire body in an instant.

Bzzzz!

The ants were flying toward Dam Ho again.

Through sheer superhuman endurance, Dam Ho suppressed the pain and retreated more than ten rooms in an instant. Only then did the ants return to the crevice from which they had emerged, circling the area.

Only then did Dam Ho hastily assume a cross-legged position and begin circulating his energy. He would use his internal energy to drive out the venom.

Whirr!

His internal energy surged through his body, attempting to expel the venom. But the venom was so extraordinarily potent that it would not yield.

Pop!

Thick veins bulged visibly across Dam Ho's entire body.

"Nnngh!"

A pained moan leaked from between his tightly pressed lips.

Dam Ho's bulging eyes were red. The pain and itching that began at the bite sites had spread throughout his body in an instant.

Bzzzz!

The ants flew toward Dam Ho.

With superhuman patience, Dam Ho endured the agony and retreated more than ten rooms in an instant. Only then did the ants return to their crevice and circle the area.

Only then did Dam Ho hastily assume a cross-legged posture and begin circulating his energy. He would use his internal energy to expel the venom.

Whirr!

His internal energy coursed through his body, driving the venom outward. But the venom was so extraordinarily potent that it refused to budge.

Pop!

Thick veins bulged visibly across Dam Ho's entire body.

"Nnngh!"

A pained groan escaped from between his tightly pressed lips.

The pain he could endure. But the itching was beyond even Dam Ho's superhuman tolerance.

He wanted nothing more than to cease circulating his energy, to claw at his skin with his fingernails until it peeled away—that would surely end the itching. But if he did so, the deadly venom would assault his heart.

To circulate his energy was unbearable agony; to stop was to court death.

In the end, Dam Ho endured the itching and devoted himself to circulating his energy.

Red patches bloomed across his face.

"Haaah!"

Dam Ho let out a ragged breath and lifted his head from the water. The red patches on his face had largely subsided.

Over the past several days, he had desperately circulated his energy to expel the venom that had invaded his body. Ten days—perhaps even a fortnight—might have elapsed.

During that time, Dam Ho had brushed with death on several occasions.

It was as though he had been trapped in a hell of fire, his skin scraped away by a blade. Such was the venom's ferocity.

Dam Ho gave the ants a name: Hell Blood Ants. They seemed to have crawled up from hell itself.

Dam Ho ate a monstrous fish and thought.

'To escape this place, I must pass through that place.'

The earth surrounding the Thousand Gold Demonic Prison was of a hardness beyond imagination. That was why the Demonic Cult had used it as a prison.

The weakest point was where the earth had collapsed. But now, that very location was the nest of the Hell Blood Ants.

If he disturbed them, the ants would naturally attack.

The problem was that Dam Ho currently had no means of defending against the Hell Blood Ants' assault. No matter how formidable his martial arts, it was impossible to kill such an enormous number of ants in a single blow.

If he attacked rashly, he would be counterattacked, and he could not guarantee that he would survive that encounter. Nor could he simply retreat.

Fortunately, the monstrous fish still remained, but eventually they would all disappear into Dam Ho's stomach.

When that time came, it would truly be the end.

He could not retreat, nor could he delay.

His only option was to press forward.

Dam Ho bit his lip.

'The shield… I must complete the shield.'

***

Dam Ho challenged the Hell Blood Ants dozens more times after that. But the result was always the same.

He was bitten by the Hell Blood Ants, and he experienced hell.

There were moments when he wished he could simply bite off his tongue and die. The pain and itching, which exceeded the limits of human endurance, drove him to smash his head against the rock dozens of times.

His forehead split open, and blood soaked his entire body.

He barely came to his senses, circulated his energy, and challenged the Hell Blood Ants once more.

Fighting the Hell Blood Ants, Dam Ho lost weight at an alarming rate. Eventually, he became so gaunt that he appeared to have nothing but skin draped over his bones.

He did not know how much time had passed.

Bzzzz!

The Hell Blood Ants flew toward Dam Ho.

Dam Ho retreated and unleashed the Fortress Breaking Fist. Many ants were swept up and crushed. But a substantial number were merely blown back by the wind, only to regroup and descend upon Dam Ho once more like a storm.

In that instant, the shape of Dam Ho's hand changed.

The hand that had until now known only the fist, swinging like a war hammer, spread open.

Dam Ho extended his palm in a gentle push. A soft breeze arose and swept the Hell Blood Ants away.

The ants tried desperately to close the distance, but it was useless. Dam Ho observed the flow of his internal energy for a moment, and his eyes lit up.

'To fight them, I do not need overwhelming force. I need the delicate control of internal energy, like the Wudang Sect's Cotton Palm.'

It was a truth he had learned through dozens of battles with the Hell Blood Ants.

There were opponents against whom brute strength was ineffective. The Hell Blood Ants before him were such.

In the time that had passed, the ants had multiplied enormously. If left unchecked, they would overrun the entire underground cavern.

This was not a fight merely for the advancement of martial arts.

It was a fight for survival.

Dam Ho curled his outstretched palm inward.

The nature of his internal energy shifted.

Absorb!

As the flow of his energy changed, the air between his palm and the Hell Blood Ants vanished instantaneously. They were in a vacuum.

Whoooosh!

In an instant, the surrounding air rushed toward his palm like a tide. The Hell Blood Ants, caught in the current, were swept along.

Hundreds of thousands, millions of Hell Blood Ants were compressed into a mass the size of a child's head.

Dam Ho's internal energy shifted once more. His fingers curled and rotated to the right.

Explode!

Boom!

The ant ball, compressed into a sphere, detonated.

The shockwave sent tremors through the air of the underground cavern.

Whirr!

Five-Finger Dark Break Light.

This was the martial art that Dam Ho had created to fight the Hell Blood Ants. It was a savage technique that created a vacuum and then detonated it.

But the ants killed by the Five-Finger Dark Break Light constituted only a minuscule fraction. Hundreds of times more remained than Dam Ho had killed.

The Hell Blood Ants flew toward Dam Ho once more.

The ants swarmed over Dam Ho, covering him in black. In that instant, the enraged ants moved to bite—

Flutter!

Suddenly, Dam Ho's entire body began to vibrate at a speed imperceptible to the human eye.

Dam Ho's body appeared to double, then triple, as afterimages overlapped.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

In that instant, the ants that had been about to bite Dam Ho exploded.

Protective energy art utilizing ultrasonic vibrations.

A martial art born from Dam Ho's inspiration, drawn from the wingbeats of the beetle.

"Shield."

From Dam Ho's lips, a hoarse voice escaped.