Chapter 452

Chapter 452 – Only Resentment Accumulates Layer Upon Layer (2)

"This is…"

Gi San-wol lost words watching the carnage unfolding before his eyes.

He knew the lord he served was formidable, but he truly hadn't known he possessed such merciless technique.

Not just his martial arts, but the technique and ruthlessness he displayed exceeded his imagination. Even if an ordinary person learned martial arts to a supremely high level, displaying it this cruelly wouldn't be easy.

"Just how…"

Even to Gi San-wol, who thought his humanity had worn away after being trapped in Avici Hell for so long, the scene unfolding before his eyes was astonishingly chilling.

The fighting briefly stopped.

Both Divine Flower Merchant Guild's martial artists who'd instantly lost their master and the ambushing martial artists stopped fighting and looked at Dam Ho.

"Fist, Fist Demon."

"How?"

Friend and foe alike had identical reactions.

Disbelief, shock, and fear.

Dam Ho had terrified not only Divine Flower Merchant Guild's martial artists but even the ambushers.

Dam Ho hadn't spoken a single word until then. That appearance made the crowd even more frightened.

A silent killer and an unbearable calamity-like being.

That was Dam Ho in their eyes.

He suddenly appeared and killed Won Hoe-sang, Divine Flower Merchant Guild's leader and the Demon Cult's Outer Circle Leader. For Divine Flower Merchant Guild, it was like getting struck by lightning while walking peacefully.

Thud!

Dam Ho stepped toward them. That footstep sound stimulated their chests with unusual intensity. Especially the psychological shock and fear Divine Flower Merchant Guild's martial artists felt was tremendous.

'We'll die.'

They saw visions of their own deaths in Dam Ho's appearance. Bodies being torn apart and butchered like the Blood Moon Ten Swords, they trembled then rushed at Dam Ho as if having seizures.

Their appearance of rushing toward Dam Ho, abandoning the martial artists they'd been facing, was like moths to flame.

"Huu!"

That moment Gi San-wol sighed and stepped forward.

Whatever the reason, since his lord Dam Ho got swept into fighting, he couldn't remain still either.

Gi San-wol muttered something and formed hand seals. Suddenly mist arose around him.

Bang Jin-bo and the Namgung brothers behind him widened their eyes at this. The mist instantly covered the area and trapped Divine Flower Merchant Guild's martial artists rushing at Dam Ho.

That moment Gi San-wol spat out a word with sincere will.

"Ice Freeze!"

Zzzeeerrr!

Instantly cold air settled in the white mist and began freezing. Along with Divine Flower Merchant Guild's martial artists who'd entered the mist.

First their clothes instantly froze, and white frost settled on their skin and atop their heads.

"Kuk! What is this?"

"E-evil sorcery."

Divine Flower Merchant Guild's martial artists were shocked and raised their internal energy to counter the cold. But the cold instantly penetrated their bodies freezing their blood. Ice crystals like millet seeds created from frozen blood drifted through blood vessels then began clumping together in large vessels entering the heart.

"Kuuuuk!"

"Uuuk!"

The martial artists exposed to cold clutched their chests and knelt. Their complexions were deathly pale like frost.

With blood vessels to the heart frozen, blood couldn't be supplied. The heart was precisely the organ leading to death if it stopped even briefly. Dozens of martial artists exposed to the mist writhed on the ground in agony then died as their hearts stopped.

Their corpses with a layer of frost settled over their entire bodies looked frighteningly chilling.

"Uuu!"

"How can this be!"

By great fortune, Divine Flower Merchant Guild's martial artists who'd avoided the mist shuddered at that scene. Seeing colleagues who'd been alive and breathing moments ago freeze to death instantly, their minds weren't normal.

Actually they'd died from blocked blood vessels, but to their eyes it looked like they'd frozen to death.

With Dam Ho possessing monster-like martial power and Gi San-wol wielding bizarre sorcery added, they lost fighting spirit.

"S-save me!"

"Ahhh!"

They screamed and fled in all directions.

The martial artists who'd ambushed Divine Flower Merchant Guild stood blankly watching them flee.

They didn't even think they'd gained the upper hand. They too felt the same fear as Divine Flower Merchant Guild's martial artists. They just stood awkwardly because Dam Ho and Gi San-wol didn't seem likely to attack them too.

"Kheuk!"

Then suddenly Gi San-wol staggered and coughed blood.

"Are you alright?"

Bang Jin-bo quickly supported Gi San-wol. Gi San-wol leaned on Bang Jin-bo's shoulder and forced a smile.

"Using imperfect sorcery has considerable backlash."

"What kind of sorcery is it…"

"It's called Eight Cold Hell Technique. If properly perfected it can cause mass casualties, but as you see, the side effects are severe so I don't recommend using it except in serious situations."

At Gi San-wol's explanation, Bang Jin-bo was inwardly shocked.

Over thirty martial artists swallowed by the mist lost their lives instantly. Yet even this wasn't complete, so he was frightened thinking what power it would display when perfected.

While supreme-level martial artists could use internal energy to expel cold penetrating their bodies, ordinary martial artists couldn't possibly handle it. Rather, against ordinary martial artists, the sorcery Gi San-wol deployed was more powerful.

Even when first meeting him in the space called Avici Hell, he'd felt strangely chilling, but seeing him deploy sorcery like this, he felt his blood cooling.

"Huu!"

After a while, Gi San-wol recovered his complexion and stood up from leaning on Bang Jin-bo.

The street was already cleared.

Divine Flower Merchant Guild's masters had retreated leaving only casualties, and only the martial artists who'd ambushed them remained on the street. This was enough to celebrate victory, but not one person rejoiced. Rather they looked at Dam Ho's group with fearful gazes.

Not one person dared approach Dam Ho's group, standing hesitantly in a pitiful state.

Among those watching each other, one person finally mustered courage to approach Dam Ho.

"I-I'm Ha Choong-ho, a lay disciple of Shaolin Temple. Th-thank you for Hero Dam's help. Thanks to Hero Dam we could cut off the enemy's supplies. I won't forget this grace."

"Thank you for Hero Dam's help."

The martial artists who'd ambushed Divine Flower Merchant Guild shouted in unison with resounding voices. Their voices echoed loudly through the street.

Dam Ho wordlessly looked at them.

Among the martial artists here, none were famous in the martial world or had exceptionally strong martial arts. Yet they willingly participated in an ambush operation with higher death probability than survival. In fact, even in that brief time, far more had died than survived.

Some might criticize them as recklessly executing operations with foolish courage. But he thought perhaps such foolhardy people's courage gathering one by one might support the vast martial world.

"You worked hard."

With those words, Dam Ho turned around. Then bright smiles appeared on the surviving martial artists' faces.

It was praise from Dam Ho, ranked among the world's most cold-hearted. Just his one sentence made them feel the tension and fatigue they'd carried wash away.

Then Bang Jin-bo stepped forward.

"Everyone worked hard. In case they return, you should secure this place. Quickly remove the corpses and move the grain elsewhere."

"Right! Of course we should."

After that it was swift.

The martial artists removed all corpses sprawled across the street and moved the grain elsewhere. The food that was to be supplied to the Demon Cult would be great help to the Martial Alliance and Henan Province's martial artists.

"To see the Fist Demon Hero Dam directly. I really thought I'd wet myself."

"Huu! Who wouldn't? Such overwhelming pressure, truly murderous. I understand why so many masters across the world fell before him like autumn leaves. Supreme masters being completely torn apart by one punch. It's terrifying even to dream of."

Even while moving corpses and grain, the martial artists talked about Dam Ho. Most people here saw Dam Ho for the first time, so their shock was even greater.

"Still, it's fortunate. That Hero Dam is our ally, not our enemy."

"I agree. If he were the enemy, what would have happened, just imagining is terrifying."

When one martial artist trembled, other martial artists nodded in agreement. The martial prowess of Dam Ho they'd directly witnessed was that shocking. And Gi San-wol's presence deploying sorcery at his side was equally shocking. But strangely, hardly any mention was made of him. People were intentionally skipping over parts about him. But most people didn't even realize that fact.

While conversing, most corpses were removed and only Won Hoe-sang's corpse remained. Won Hoe-sang's headless corpse looked pitiful rather than horrifying.

Won Hoe-sang was the man who possessed the world's greatest wealth. Many envied the tremendous wealth he had and wanted even a portion of it.

Thinking the end of a man with tremendous financial power, the Demon Cult as reliable backing, and power to achieve whatever he wanted was this pitiful made everything feel futile.

"What do we do with this person's corpse?"

"Abandon it in the wilderness to become beast feed."

"Still, he's the same human."

"We must show followers of the Demon Cult as an example. That the end of those following the Demon Cult is this pitiful and cruel."

"Mm!"

Many groaned at someone's suggestion. But soon one or two began agreeing with him, and ultimately they decided to follow his opinion.

That much was how severe their resentment toward the Demon Cult was. Enough not to even give minimum consideration.

Hearing their conversation from outside, Gi San-wol sighed.

"Somehow I feel Avici Hell was more humane than here. Nothing seems as terrible as fighting between humans. That the same species can have such severe resentment and fight to annihilate each other, it's truly not easy to understand."

"No need to understand."

"What?"

"Because humans are originally such beings."

The humans Dam Ho had seen were never good beings.

No beast existing in the world massacres their own kind like humans. How can beings who don't hesitate to massacre their own kind to achieve their desires be called good?

Dark shadows fell across Dam Ho's eyes. Countless thoughts crossed in his pupils flickering in darkness.

***

Won Hoe-sang and Divine Flower Merchant Guild martial artists' corpses were abandoned in the wilderness.

When wild dogs and crows tore at their corpses making them unrecognizable, a group appeared.

They very carefully recovered Won Hoe-sang's corpse. They collected every scattered flesh piece and bone fragment without exception. The recovered corpse was delivered to Won Seol-hwa.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Seeing her father's wretched corpse, Won Seol-hwa let out a desperate scream and fainted. Even after, she repeatedly woke and fainted several times.

"How? How?"

She muttered blankly like a mad person.

Her father who'd seemed high and solid as the sky. Won Seol-hwa most respected and followed her father Won Hoe-sang in the world.

To her, Won Hoe-sang had been a higher and more reliable existence than even the Cult Leader. With such a father returning as a wretched corpse, maintaining sanity was rather impossible.

She came to her senses several days later.

"Who? Who made my father like this?"

"That's…"

"Speak!"

"They say the Fist Demon."

"Fist Demon? I'll never forgive him. I'll chew up every finger, every piece of flesh."

"Young miss!"

"Hoho! You think I'll just leave the one who killed my father? I'll use all my power to definitely kill him. And everything connected to him."

Original venom filled Won Seol-hwa's eyes.

Nothing was visible in the eyes of the woman who'd lost her father. Only thoughts of revenge arose.

The grain meant to be sent to the Demon Cult forces at Mount Song had disappeared, but she didn't care at all. Because avenging her father was more important than such grain.

"Immediately summon all available personnel from the merchant guild."

"Young miss?"

"Now!"

"Understood."

The subordinate answered with an expression of helplessness.

He feared what Won Seol-hwa might do. Because women blinded by resentment sometimes did things beyond imagination.

He could only hope what Won Seol-hwa did wouldn't harm the Demon Cult.