Reaper of the Drifting Moon

A cold sweat ran down the back of Geum Pyeong.

The fact that Pyo-wol was hiding right next to him, yet he didn’t notice, gave him fear.

Even if Pyo-wol had attacked him, he would be dead.

If this had been a real situation, not a training, he would have lost his life at the hands of Pyo-wol, not knowing how he was going to die.

‘Crazy! How is it possible to master the Turtle Breathing Technique to this extent in only six years?!’

If it were easy to learn then the four children would never have been discovered by him.

Not everyone can do it. It was only possible because it was Pyo-wol.

The abilities that Pyo-wol particularly stood out were stealth, and demonic tactics. His abilities mainly specialized in infiltrating.

‘…Nonetheless, to think his skills are already good enough to deceive me.’

He felt the blood in his body cooling down.

It was the first sense of crisis he felt after retiring from the life of an assassin.

It wasn’t just Pyo-wol.

Among the children, some of the most extraordinary ones boasted exceptional achievements. Their growth threatened the existing instructors.

Their senses were so developed that they couldn’t believe they were the same human being. Based on such a developed sense, if they learned martial arts, their achievements would be unmatched.

Their growth frightened the custodians.

It was the evaluation of the custodians that they would not be able to commit an assassination right away.

Pyo-wol was one of them.

He has not seen sunlight for six years, so his skin is as white as snow, his eyes are bright red, and his face is expressionless.

Among the children, the most handsome man was Go Shin-ok.

If Go Shin-ok has a delicate body line and a beautiful face that is reminiscent of a woman, Pyo-wol has a sensuality that is difficult to describe in words.

The masculine part and the feminine part are mixed to give off a neutral charm.

Even the most experienced assassins, like the Geum Pyeeong made his heart shudder just looking at Pyo-wol’s bright red eyes.

Pyo-wol opened his mouth.

“Now that training is over, can I take a break?”

“Y-Yes!”

The governor stuttered involuntarily.

Pyo-wol bowed his head slightly to Geum Pyeong and turned around.

He could feel the hot gaze of Geum Pyeong behind his back, but he pretended not to know. He had been in hiding for three days, practicing the Turtle Breathing technique.

It was good to perfectly spread the Turtle Breathing technique, but because of that, the muscles of his whole body hardened and the function of his organs weakened.

In order to recover properly, he had to have a quick breakfast.

Pyo-wol’s residence was still in the dark area.

It has been six years since he came here. Most of the other children moved to the main hall, but Pyo-wol still stayed here.

When he was in a dark and closed space that felt gloomy, Pyo-wol felt the most at ease.

Six years have made him that way.

Pyo-wol took a seat in one corner of the room and sat down.

There was no fear of being attacked from behind, and the front sight was opened so that he could react quickly in case of an emergency.

For the past six years, Pyo-wol has lived like this.

He always moved with survival in mind, and he trusted no one.

Even when the other children moved together according to their interests, he was not swept away and lived alone.

Because of that, he was rejected by many children, but he did not pay much attention to it because he was already familiar with the treatment.

Pyo-wol closed his eyes and trained quietly.

The cultivation method he used was the Thunder-Splitting Cultivation Technique.

Even though the other children skipped the Poisonous Dragon Heart method and learned other excellent cultivation methods, he was still stuck in learning only the Thunder-Splitting Cultivation Technique.

That’s not to say that he hasn’t looked at the other cultivation techniques at all.

Pyo-wol looked at all the methods given by the instructors. But each time, his conclusion was the same.

It is said that no other cultivation technique can match the Thunder-Splitting Cultivation Technique.

Right now, other cultivation methods are more destructive, but as time goes on, the gap will narrow sharply. And sooner or later he will be able to surpass them.

When he practiced the Thunder-Splitting Technique, he felt as if my body had been penetrated from my head to my toes.

It was always mesmerizing.

Pyo-wol experienced the same feeling every day after his method of cultivating reached a certain point.

The internal energy learned by the Thunder-Splitting method had the properties of lightning (雷). Although the amount was so small that it could not be excreted from the body, the nerves of Pyo Yue were stimulated every day.

At first, it felt bad.

His nerves were tingling and it felt quite painful.

He could have stopped at that point, but Pyo-wol continued to learn and study the method of cultivation. By the time five years had passed, Pyo-wol realized that his body’s reaction speed had risen dramatically. When there’s an incoming threat, his body reacts even before his head could process what was happening.

At first, he didn’t know why, but after thinking about it for a while, he soon found out why.

The cause was lightning.

Lightning stimulates the nerves in his brain and develops it.

One of the facts that he learned while learning the method of cultivating is that all the motor responses of the human body are actually caused by electrical or nerve impulses in the brain.

Depending on how fast the nerve impulse is transmitted, the reaction speed changes.

A person whose nerve impulse is transmitted quicker responds that much faster, while a person with a slow nerve impulse transmission recognizes and responds more slowly.

In the meantime, Pyo-wol has continuously stimulated his nerves throughout the body with the Thunder-Splitting Method. As a result, he developed a nerve that no one dared to match.

Because of this, his reaction speed was so high that no other children dared to match him. Even if they learned and spread the same martial arts, their speed was inevitably different.

Another thing had changed.

It was what Pyo-wol named the heart speed (心速). The expansion of neural networks even increased his speed of thinking. The speed of his thinking was outstanding, it was as if Pyo-wol was thinking in a different time than others.

Pyo-wol completely hid all of these facts.

He only showed his excellence in catching, such as Turtle Breathing Technique and stealth, while he hid his skills in martial arts by making it roughly on par with the other children in the underground cave.

Only one person knew that fact.

In order to get out of this hellish place, he had to hide his abilities by at least five percent, not three percent.

That’s how Pyo-wol has spent the last six years.

If there is one thing that makes him uneasy, it is that the Thunder-Splitting Cultivation Technique is no longer enough.

A slightly higher level of cultivation method was needed.

A cultivation method that will expand and guide him properly.

However, it was impossible to find such a method here.

The cultivation methods given by the custodians were all methods that did not have much depth in them. Such methods are very helpful for immediate achievement and growth, but their limitations are too clear when looking into the distant future.

There were two options for Pyo-wol.

It was either continuing to learn and develop the Thunder-Splitting method, or learning other cultivation methods that would be helpful in Jianghu.

But considering that the latter is almost impossible, the former is the only option left now.

‘Even if I die, I have no choice but to cling to the Thunder-Splitting method…’

Pyo-wol thought it was his fate to learn the Thunder-Splitting method.

All of the children who came in here learned the same method, but he was the only one who dug deep into the technique. Because of this, others did not know that the Thunder-Splitting method had such a utility. And they will never know.

Because they have already forgotten the method of cultivation and are digging into different cultivation techniques.

Pyo-wol destroyed the original copy of the Thunder-Splitting cultivation technique.

Still, no one cared. Not only the children, but even the custodians.

The Thunder-Splitting Cultivation Technique was now completely gone.

Pyo-wol opened his eyes after contemplation.

In an instant, the red tint in his eyes grew even stronger. But the red glint in his eye soon subsided.

Pyo-wol looked around for a moment.

The snake that bit him was no longer visible.

It was clear that the snake had died at some point, or that it had moved to another place in search of food.

Pyo-wol made an expression of regret for a moment, but then left his room with a nonchalant face.

He headed towards the largest hall in the underground cavity. When we arrived at the entrance to the hall, he could feel secret gazes from everywhere. It was the eyes of children.

“Kiki, who is this? Why did your precious body come all the way here?”

One of them appeared and greeted the table. He was an impressive child with a long neck, slightly curved back, and a sullen gaze.

His name was So Gyeoksan, and all the other children called him a Hori-man or Tamhonrang (탐혼랑) ( 食魂狼 Soul Eater Wolf).

So Gyeoksan said that he came from an arts troupe who performed miscellaneous plays. Maybe that’s why there were so many re-additions but the most surprising thing was his art of the sword (捨験 shè yàn).

So Gyeoksan talked about how to change the face by drawing a person’s face on silk, layering it over the face, and then tearing it off in an instant.

Even if you look with your eyes wide open, you cannot capture the moment when his face changes, but So Gyeoksan was a master of the sword.

Instead, there is something different from his face, in that he doesn’t paint his face on silk.

He took off the skins of the dead children’s faces and unfolded the sword, but it was so subtle that it was difficult to ascertain the authenticity.

Many people were reluctant to use the faces of dead children as if they were theirs.

Pyo-wol opened his mouth.

“Your face has changed again. Is it Yoo Kwangin’s face?”

“Kiki! He croaked not too long ago. That’s why I’m using his face.”

“You may forget what your real face looks like at this point.”

“Who cares? We can’t even get out of here anyway. If I hadn’t done something like this, I would have gone crazy already.”‘

“If you keep doing that, someone will kill you before you go crazy.”

“Who? You?”

“It may or may not be.”

“Kikiki! You’re funny.”

“Do you think it’s a joke?”

“I mean, I hope it’s a joke.”

As Pyo-wol’s voice lowered slightly, a light of tension appeared on So Gyeoksan’s face.

‘Unlucky bastard.’

So Gyeoksan, who usually fears nothing in the world, strangely felt reluctant in confronting Pyo-wol.

Over the course of six years, he has grown terribly.

Even compared to So Yeowol and others who stood out in the early days, he achieved a corresponding growth that is not far behind. Because of that, he was not afraid of So Yeowol or the other children.

But only towards Pyo-wol, he was strangely reluctant.

Perhaps it was because Pyo-wol’s appearance in the early days was so intense.

At that time, the violence that Pyo-wol committed against Yeom Iljung was just so terrible. But many years have passed.

That’s how the children grew up.

Now, all the children here are wearing clothes and it is enough to pierce a person’s eyeballs.

That’s how poisonous and cruel they became. However, even those children, strangely, would feel reluctant to look at the Pyo-wol, and they would usually step back.

Apart from his simple martial arts skills, there was something about Pyo-wol that made people afraid. So even if they decide to teach him a lesson someday, they keep on putting it back.

So Gyeoksan said with a carefree expression on his face.

“Go in.”

Pyo-wol passed by So Gyeoksan and entered the hall.

The inside was quite cozy.

You can feel the warmth of human life.

As Pyo-wol entered, the sitting children raised their heads and looked at them. So Yeowol, Song Cheonwoo, Go Shin-ok, Kang Il and Lee Min.

Among the children who survived to the end, they were by far the most outstanding children.

Now even the instructors could not treat them recklessly. Their growth exceeded the expectations of the instructors. And because of that, it was impossible to control them unless it was the First Sword, Second Sword, or Third Swords.

The children were making a bonfire and grilling something.

Pyo-wol naturally sits between them.

Even the children were not wary of Pyo-wol.

They haven’t seen each other for a long time, but there was no reason to ostracize each other.

Pyo-wol was staying alone like oil that does not mix with water, but he had done no damage to them, so the children accepted Pyo-wol as a member.

Pyo-wol took out a skewer that was being grilled over the bonfire and opened his mouth.

“They seem to care, suddenly sending all this meat.”

“Recently, the quality of food has improved a lot.”

So Yeowol said, putting wood into the bonfire. Her eyes were very deep and clear. When she looked at someone, they felt like they were being sucked in. There were many children who were captured by her eyes.

Pyo-wol thought as he ate the meat.

‘It seems that the moment they would be given a mission has arrived.’

Even pigs before they were caught are given delicious food.

There was only one reason why the children suddenly currently have abundant food when they were usually given so little.

He made eye contact with So Yeowol’s eyes.

Her eyes sank as deep as Pyo-wol. It was clear that she also guessed what Pyo-wol had guessed.

So Yeowol said.

“We will be put on a mission soon.”

Crackle!

In an instant, the bonfire blazed even more violently, dyeing the children’s faces red.

Editor’s Notes

Thank you for taking the time to read! Commenting or reacting to the post would be highly appreciated~ it gives me motivation to translate and edit chaps <3