From the spectator's seats, death was…
'Terrifying.'
The man with the red bandages was Jin Dan, the first disciple of the Fist King, Kang Hu.
Since he began learning the fist technique from his Master, this was the first time he had ever felt fear looking at someone.
His terrifying appearance, something one might see in hell, was one reason.
His unyielding aura was another, as he strode forward without a hint of hesitation, even though he must have felt the ominous energy flowing from their fists.
But what he found more terrifying than anything was his Master's reaction.
In the fifteen years he had been learning the Fist Technique from Kang Hu, he had never seen anyone speak to his Master with such contempt, nor had he ever seen his Master endure it like this.
This was a first.
'A Demon Sovereign is truly a Demon Sovereign.'
The skill the Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign had shown earlier was also truly incredible.
No, he didn't even have to look that far.
That young woman had cut down all his subordinates by herself.
There were only three of them, but he felt the pressure of facing thousands.
'But the outcome of this fight is already decided.'
He couldn't imagine his Master losing to anyone.
He believed in his Master.
'How I fight is what's important.'
If it became a close match with the Fist Demon, the victory would depend on how he fights.
But that thought was a great misunderstanding.
There was no room for his will or judgment to intervene in this battle.
The Fist Demon, who had been striding forward, shot through the air.
Kang Hu did not evade and threw a punch.
The first punch, signaling the start of the fight.
Kwaang.
An explosive sound erupted as their fists, laden with inner energy, collided.
The Fist Demon, who took a step back, frowned involuntarily.
It was because of the foul energy spreading from Kang Hu's fist.
It was a strange and murky energy, a mix of evil and demonic auras, powerful enough to make someone with weak mental energy or insufficient inner energy lose consciousness.
That energy floated around them like an aura of death, consuming the battlefield and pressing down on everything.
Kang Hu smiled coldly, feigning composure.
"With these fists, I have yet to meet an opponent who forces me to use a weapon."
It was a counter to the Fist Demon's earlier mockery, but this time, the Fist Demon answered not with words, but with his fist.
A powerful fist at that.
Rumble! Kwa-kwang!
With a sound like thunder, a fist of immense power flew toward his face.
Kwaaaaang!
Their two fists clashed again.
It was a collision of fist against fist, yet it left a more powerful aftermath than the clash of any weapons.
Hwaaaang.
A fierce gale swirled out as the aftershock spread in all directions.
A clash of fists created such a shockwave? It was truly unbelievable power.
As the gust of wind blew, Lee Ahn covered her eyes with her hand.
Just as her father had protected her in the previous fight, this time the Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign protected her, as her inner energy was depleted.
If not for the Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign, she would have been swept away by the gale.
In fact, the Yellow Dragon Hall Master, Yeon Baek-in, who was standing over there, was sent rolling across the ground far away.
Pa-a-ak.
The trees planted around the distant walls bent sharply, their leaves scattering into the air.
Swish.
Amidst the swirling leaves that fell like snow, the Fist Demon and the Fist King stood facing each other.
That last punch was no ordinary punch.
Of the six fists in the Fist Demon's signature martial art, the Thunder Asura Fist, it was the third one.
Third Fist Form, Heavenly Thunder Asura.
That heavy fist had flown and struck home.
Lee Ahn noticed a change in her father's martial art.
'Father's thunder sound has gotten quieter.'
It was the thunderous sound she had heard many times during their late-night training sessions.
But it had become far too quiet.
'Could there be something wrong with his body?'
She did not yet know.
That when this thunder sound diminished and eventually disappeared completely, it would be the moment he was ready to shatter cliffs.
The Fist Demon's martial art was endlessly advancing toward that moment.
Kang Hu looked down at his own fist.
An even more powerful evil and demonic energy was flowing from the trembling fist.
It was reacting on its own after that last exchange.
"Shall we get started right away?"
At Kang Hu's question, the Fist Demon spoke softly.
"The stench of your fist is too foul."
Kang Hu's expression hardened again.
The Fist Demon was thoroughly mocking him.
If the taunt came from someone who knew nothing, he would make them pay the price, but his opponent was one who had earned the right.
Kang Hu suppressed the killing intent that threatened to surge within him, even though that killing intent was his greatest strength.
'Not yet.'
Kang Hu rubbed his arm and stepped forward.
"That hurts more than I expected."
At that calm reaction, the Fist Demon gave a single nod.
It was not a nod of acknowledgment for his opponent.
Why would he acknowledge an opponent he had to kill?
This was a signal to himself.
A nod to remind himself not to become complacent, because his opponent was worthy of acknowledgment.
After all, his opponent had survived the Heavenly Thunder Asura and was walking out unscathed.
"I'm not exactly patient either."
This time, it was Kang Hu who charged forward and threw a punch.
Even though it was fist against fist, the sound was like colliding blocks of iron.
Jin Dan took a step back and watched the two fight.
And surprisingly, he could see openings.
'There! Now!'
Why wasn't his Master counterattacking that spot?
He saw a gap that he would have attacked, but his Master did not.
The opposite was also true.
'That's dangerous, Master!'
It was a vulnerability in his Master that he had never seen before.
But the Fist Demon did not aim for that opening.
Only then did he understand.
'Ah, it's not an opening.'
Those openings were not weaknesses, but traps.
A death trap that would spring the moment a fist was thrown, resulting in a counterattack.
The highest level of techniques, which even the eyes of the Fist King's first disciple could not discern, were being exchanged in an instant.
At a glance, it looked like a brutish fight, but their battle was by no means so simple.
Fist masters were those who had to face armed opponents with their bare hands.
That was why these fist masters, who exchanged seemingly brutish punches, had to be smarter.
Otherwise, how could they defeat those who wielded sharp weapons? This was a battle between two men who had come closest to the ultimate state of the fist technique.
That was why it was a fight Jin Dan could not interfere with.
A battle where he could not tell what ploy a move held, nor what the next move would be, continued to unfold.
His job was to not miss the moment his Master shouted for him.
Amid the exchange of probing attacks, this time Kang Hu threw a hidden card.
His signature martial art was the Ghost Soul Severing Fist.
The move he had just unleashed was the Second Form, Soul-Slashing Strike.
Swaaaaaa.
The small bolt of force that shot from his fist suddenly expanded like a giant blade the moment it reached his opponent.
A massive wave of force that was impossible to dodge.
Swish.
The Fist Demon's fist struck the incoming Soul-Slashing Strike.
He threw his punch at the massive force without retreating a single step.
First Form, Black Cloud Asura.
It was the first of the six forms, but that didn't mean its power was the lowest.
The Black Cloud Asura, whose true power you only knew once you were hit, became a wave of force that tore through the air.
The moment the two forces collided!
Hwaaaaaaaaang!
With a tremendous explosion, the surroundings were swept away.
Crack! Kwarreureung!
The trees that had only shed their leaves before were now uprooted entirely, and the surrounding walls collapsed all at once from the impact.
The building that the Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign had half-demolished earlier collapsed completely.
The person who was swept up by this impact and rolled even farther across the ground than before was the Yellow Dragon Hall Master, Yeon Baek-in.
Clutching his chest from the internal injury, he lamented inwardly.
'My martial hall, my martial hall is being destroyed.'
Of course, the hall could be rebuilt, but after the main building collapsed from the Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign's single strike, all of this felt like his destiny.
'I have to run now to survive.'
This was the cry of his instincts.
'This is not a fight I should be involved in.'
An ominous premonition that whoever won would not show him any kindness.
But what if the man in the basement came out with the peerless secret manual, and he wasn't there? What if he was looking for him?
He had waited this long, what if he wasn't there at this final moment?
The terrifying regret of that thought alone held Yeon Baek-in's feet in place.
Sometimes, lingering attachment and regret can be more terrifying than greed.
And there was another reason he was running toward the cliff even as he saw its edge.
'I even killed my own brother!'
That fact made it impossible for him to turn back.
That was why one should never cross a bridge one cannot return from.
He felt this desperately only after standing at the edge of the cliff.
'He will come out. I just have to survive until then.'
He was teetering between this life and the next all by himself, but no one paid him any mind.
The Plum Blossom Sword Sovereign, who was protecting Lee Ahn while watching the fight, sensed that the Fist Demon, like herself, was no longer at his previous level of skill.
Since his connection with Geom Mugeuk, he too had grown stronger.
Watching Kang Hu engage in such a battle with that Fist Demon, she was reminded of just how powerful the forces behind this were.
This was not an organization that had been prepared for only a year or two.
'Just when was this organization created?'
Her gaze turned to Kang Hu.
His expression had become grave.
As his Soul-Slashing Strike was blocked on the spot, Kang Hu's aura changed.
He who had always radiated an aura of death toward his opponents now felt that this aura of death could be directed at himself.
Swaaaaaa!
Now feeling that death itself was their audience, the speed of the two men began to increase.
Their forms vanished from sight and reappeared.
Even the onlookers had trouble following their movements.
Big and slow?
The Fist Demon shattered that stereotype.
He was fast.
The muscles of his large body seemed to exist not for strength, but for speed.
At the end of that festival of speed.
Whoosh!
A different sound of wind, created by a different kind of attempt.
The sound of the wind was light, and the sound of the impact was heavy.
Thwack!
Kang Hu's head was thrown back.
He looked as if he was staring up at the sky.
The Fist Demon's fist was thrust before the chin of the man who gazed at the sky with vacant eyes.
Puhwaak!
Kang Hu spat blood toward the sky.
The blood, gushing like a fountain, rained down in all directions.
The Second Fist Form, Thunder Asura, had struck him in the face.
Thunder Asura was a form that threw punches so fast they were invisible to the eye.
In terms of the Flying Heaven Sword Technique, it was the swift sword form, the Azure Heaven Form, that had struck his face.
If he hadn't tilted his head back at the very last moment, his entire face would have been blown off.
Just then, Kang Hu suddenly began to curse.
"Fist Demon, you son of a bitch! I'll completely smash that filthy face of yours."
Curses completely unbefitting of his skill spewed out.
He was now revealing another, no, his original self.
His was not an elegant killing intent.
It was a violent, base killing intent from the very dregs of humanity; he was a man who wielded such primal killing intent.
He was summoning all the killing intent he possessed.
"I'll beat you until your whole body turns to dust. I won't leave a single bone in your body. I'll chew you up and swallow you whole."
Endless killing intent flowing from the body of a man who had never once in his life liked anyone.
Curses and killing intent born from true hatred.
The Fist Demon did not take that killing intent lightly.
One must not be deceived by that baseness.
The moment one thinks, 'This bastard is showing his true, worthless self,' one dies.
Kang Hu's killing intent was exactly that kind.
If his opponent were some ruffian, it would be different, but for a man of his skill, this was a killing intent that screamed at the sky from beside the fires of hell.
A genuine killing intent of human nature, hidden beneath a veneer of vulgarity.
Indeed, as he wiped the blood from his face, Kang Hu let out a cold laugh.
His eyes seemed to flash white with an intense killing intent he had never experienced before.
Ssssk.
The characters carved on both his hands began to glow blue like Ghost Fire.
That light, too, was a light not of this world.
The Fist Demon sensed that his opponent was about to use his final move and anticipated that this would not be an easy fight.
Yes, if this was a fight that had to be dragged down to the very bottom, a fight to see who would open the gates of hell and walk out.
Just as Kang Hu had said it had been a long time since he had to undo his bandages.
The Fist Demon casually took off his shirt.
He revealed a truly perfect, muscular torso.
He often took his shirt off during training, but it had been a long time since he met an opponent in a real fight who made him do so.
The Fist Demon clenched his fists tightly.
The muscles in his arms were taut as if they would burst, and his veins stood out as clearly as a mighty river.
The energy flowing through those veins was as hot as lava.
Of course, the Fist Demon did not lose his composure.
This was a fight in front of his daughter, after all.
"If you can't take the beating anymore, just say the word. I'll face you with a sword."