Reaper of the Drifting Moon

The reason Woo Gunsang woke up was purely because of an ominous feeling.

His nerves had bothered him. Woo Gunsang did not ignore his instincts.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing that caught his eyes was the ventilation hole on the ceiling. He couldn’t see it with the naked eye, but he could instinctively sense that there was something inside the vent.

Bang!

That was then.

He was suddenly short of breath.

His throat was choked, and his body was hung up to the ceiling. At the same time, the vents were broken and a black object fell.

It was Pyo-wol.

In his hand was the rope tightening on the neck of Woo Gunsang.

As Pyo-wol came down the ceiling, Woo Gunsang’s figure went up.

“Oh! Senior brother!”

As soon as the woman screamed in surprise, Pyo-wol kicked her in the stomach. The woman, who was defenseless, collapsed without managing to let out a scream because her internal organs were shaken.

Squeak!

At that moment, Woo Gunsang, who was struggling in the air, cut off the rope above his head with his hand.

His hand, which had been injected with internal qi, was like a sword in itself. The rope was immediately cut off, and Woo Gunsang found freedom.

Woo Gunsang threw off the rope that was holding his neck and shouted.

“Who are you?”

Instead of answering, Pyo-wol picked up the sword that was lying on the floor and rushed towards Woo Gunsang.

Clang!

His sword aimed at Woo Gunsang. Woo Gunsang struck Pyo-wol’s sword with the blade of his hand.

Jjeoeoeong!

The sharply forged sword bounced off.

Even though he collided with the blade with his bare hands, there was not a single scratch on the hand of Woo Gunsang.

It was Jeol Young-soo (絶影手 Absolute Shadow Hand), a secret technique of the Qingcheng sect. Woo Gunsang had reached a level where he could use swordsmanship without actually weilding a sword.

He snorted

“For an assassin to dare come here.”

Woo Gunsang ran towards Pyo-wol and waved his hand. Then a cloud-like match arose and struck the Pyo-wol.

“Hurgh!”

Pyo-wol’s body slid backwards as he let out a groan. There was blood on his lips. He was wounded in a single blow.

Woo Gunsang advanced with joy.

At that moment, Pyo-wol kicked one of the daggers lying on the floor. The dagger flew precisely at the head of Woo Gunsang.

Heung!

Woo Gunsang caught the dagger in between his fingers. Although it was a short sword that did not reach the length of a sword he usually used, he felt that his heart was reassured as he held a weapon in his hand.

Although he was good at martial arts with his bare hands, he was still the most confident with his sword fighting skills.

The length of the sword does not affect his sword attack. That was how well-versed Woo Gunsang was when it came to swords.

Shishk!

He unleashed one of the swordsmanship of the Qingcheng sect, the Red Drop Sword (青雲赤霞剣 Qingyun Chixia Sword).

The entire underground dance floor seemed to be dyed with the red glow emanating from his sword.

Pyo-wol felt an extreme sense of crisis.

The weight contained in the sword of Woo Gunsang was so great that he could not bear it.

Pit pit pit!

In an instant, Pyo-wol was wounded in three places.

Each wound was not light.

“Kuergh!”

Pyo-wol let out a scream and staggered. But he persevered without falling down.

Woo Gunsang fired another shot at Pyo-wol.

Pyo-wol avoided all of those attacks by a hair’s breadth.

“You’re pretty good.”

A cruel light flashed in Woo Gunsang’s eyes.

He continued to pressure Pyo-wol like a cat playing with a mouse. Pyo-wol’s whole body was gradually stained with blood from Woo Gunsang’s formidable swordsmanship.

Even if it wasn’t, it was a free car because of the practice of closing the pipe that I didn’t want. (그렇지 않아도 원치 않던 폐관수련 때문에 무료하던 차였다.)

He brought in disciples who usually sucked up on him, and held them in his arms, but the endeavor became boring.

Woo Gunsang had stood out since childhood.

His formidable intelligence made it easy to learn any martial arts.

Everyone applauded his outstanding growth, and the seniors of the Qingcheng sect each taught him martial arts.

It was probably from then.

Learning martial arts was no longer fun.

The martial arts that others had to learn for more than a year, he learned in a month. As he learned it so easily, his interest in martial arts began to fall.

From that moment on, he started to become interested in women.

There were many women who sucked up to him. He, too, was at a hot-blooded age, so he did not shy away from any woman who came up to him.

If it were just that, it wouldn’t be a big deal. The trouble arose when he forcibly took a woman. At that time, Woo Gunsang was intoxicated and lost his judgment.

When he met a certain woman, her beauty made Woo Gun-sang act like a beast as he forcibly took the woman. The woman who felt ashamed, committed suicide making her family fall apart.

Woo Jinpyeong barely managed the situation, and he ordered Woo Gunsang to spend a whole year training in isolation.

Although he admitted his mistake, the fact that Woo Gunsang had to be put on probation for a year was a cruel treatment that was hard for him to accept.

So his heart was filled with discontent. Even as he held a female disciple in his arms, the deterioration in his heart did not go away.

Then, the assassin’s attack exploded his anger.

“Did that bitch’s father send you?”

Woo Gunsang mistook Pyo-wol as an assassin sent by the father of the woman he raped. The woman’s father was a power to recognize in the neighborhood. He had enough fortune to hire a few assassins.

Pyo-wol didn’t answer.

His attitude provoked his anger even more.

Woo Gunsang performed the sword attack of the Qingcheng sect that he had learned so far as if he had been angry with Pyo-wol.

Ssis! Ssiis!

The entire underground basement was filled with his swordsmanship. It was only then that Pyo-wol realized how great a martial artist Woo Gunsang was.

From the sword of Woo Gunsang, three swords came out. At least it’s a dagger, so if he had a long sword, his neck would have been separated from his body.

That is why Pyo-wol deliberately threw a dagger and held it.

Pyo-wol did not dare to block the sword in front of him, so he managed to avoid the attack of Woo Gunsang with the technique of Nalyeotagon [나려타곤(懶驢打滾 Lazy Donkey Rolling)].

“Dear!”

Woo Gunsang followed Pyo-wol and spread the water.

At that moment, Pyo-wol kicked a sword that was rolling on the floor with his foot.

Kang!

However, the sword he kicked collided with the dagger of Woo Gunsang and bounced off.

Pyo-wol grabbed the bounced sword in the air and swung it.

“How funny! How dare you attack me with my own sword?”

Woo Gunsang, who was a martial artist until the very tip of his head, changed his sword.

Instead of the Cheongunjeokhagum, it was the Seventy-Two Sword Waves, one of the secret techniques of the Qingcheng sect.

As if the waves were pounding seventy-two times, the revolving sword had a tremendous power that was difficult for any master of Jianghu to easily take.

The Seventy-Two Sword Waves was not the highest swordsmanship technique of the Qingcheng sect. Even though there were a few more techniques with stronger power than that, Woo Gunsang was most familiar with the Seventy-Two Sword Waves.

He was fascinated with the Seventy-Two Sword Waves from a young age. Since it’s been a long time since he learned it, he reached a point where he can execute the technique even with his eyes closed.

Ssisisis!

Sharp sword strikes flew in succession like waves.

Pyo-wol’s body seemed to be in danger as if it was going to be torn apart at any moment. Pyo-wol fled behind the woman who was earlier beaten down by him.

“Move!”

Gunsang Woo kicked the body of the woman whom he had made love with a while ago. The woman bounced out and hit the wall.

As a result, the nerves of Woo Gunsang were temporarily distracted.

That was then.

The red light in Pyo-wol’s eyes glowed. He swung his sword in the wrong direction as if he had given up on everything.

A smirk crept on the corner of his mouth.

“Foolish—”

Kaang!

Then the unbelievable happened.

The sword of Woo Gunsang which was raging wildly like a wave, was blocked by Pyo-wol’s sword.

“What?”

Woo Gunsang dismissed it as a coincidence and again unfolded his Seventy-Two Sword Waves.

Kaang!

But this time, he was blocked by the sword of Pyo-wol. Pyo-wol cut off his attack, as if he had already known Woo Gunsang’s swordsmanship in advance.

Indeed he does.

The Seventy-Two Sword Waves displayed by Woo Gunsang was the martial art Pyo-wol knew. The unknown swordsman he learned in the underground cavity was the Seventy-Two Sword Waves.

Three children out of the twenty-seven children had learned the Seventy-Two Sword Waves. Two of three were attacked by the other children, with Pyo-Wol being the sole survivor.

Pyo-wol learned the Seventy-Two Sword Waves to death in order to survive. So, he knew the characteristics of the Seventy-Two Sword Waves better than anyone.

Although his understanding and mastery may be lagging behind that of Woo Gunsang, he surpassed him in terms of demolishing the technique.

To Woo Gunsang, the Seventy-Two Sword Waves was simply a sword that he had mastered, but for Pyo-wol, the Seventy-Two Sword Waves was the only hope he expected to use in order to survive.

Ssis!

Pyo-wol stabbed his sword.

It was an ordinary stab that relied on his instincts. However, its speed and direction exceeded the expectations of Woo Gunsang.

Swift Mind!

The speed of the mind moves the body.

On this one chance, Pyo-Wol risked everything he had.

Puug!

The sword pierced his chest.

The sword of Pyo-wol pierced through the chest of Woo Gunsang.

“Kekeuhg!”

Woo Gunsang vomited blood.

The blood poured out of Woo Gunsang’s mouth had soaked Pyo-wol’s face.

“How can the likes of you use the Seventy-Two Sword Waves…?!”

Although Pyo-wol did not know, the technique he unwittingly unfolded was a resemblance of the Seventy-Two Sword Waves. He executed the Seventy-Two Sword Waves as he destroyed the Seventy-Two Sword Waves of Woo Gunsang.

No one else knew, but Woo Gunsang was able to recognize that.

Pyo-wol didn’t answer.

He couldn’t.

It felt like the energy would scatter and collapse if he opened his mouth. In the brief moment of confrontation, Pyo-wol poured everything he had.

The key was to have Woo Gunsang execute the Seventy-Two Sword Waves. Lim Sayeol said that the unknown swordsmanship, the Seventy-Two Sword Waves, was the mastered martial arts of their target.

Pyo-wol thought there was a chance of winning if he would let Woo Gunsang perform the Seventy-Two Sword Waves. That’s why he desperately dragged time to unfold the Seventy-Two Swords.

This was the first time he had used the Thunder-Splitting technique in practice.

It was a gamble that could cost his life.

His gamble might have been a success, but he suffered serious injuries in return. He had to get out of here quickly.

Pyo-wol looked at the woman for a moment.

The woman who had been struck by Woo Gunsang was losing her mind. Pyo-wol exited the underground basement through the ventilation hole.

From now on, it was a race against time.

He had to get as far away from the Qingcheng sect as possible before they noticed.

* * *

Cheong-il was one of the members of the Qingcheng sect and was in charge of the Yakseondang.

Although he is not as strong in martial arts as his high-ranking brother Cheong-yeop, Qing Ming, or Woo Gunsang, he was well versed in medicine and was respected by many of his disciples.

Cheong-il looked at his disciple, Jin-gwang, with a frown on his forehead.

“What do you mean? Dojin is on the grounds? Wasn’t Dojin walking around the mountain collecting herbs?”

“I thought so too…”

Jin-gwang put on a puzzled expression.

It was him who instructed Dojin to gather the herbs from the mountain.

But he heard some strange news. It was said that Dojin, who had gone out under his orders earlier, returned to the Qingcheng sect for some reason.

There were also testimonies from the disciples who saw Dojin.

Jin-gwang wandered the Qingcheng sect in search of Dojin. However, Dojin could not be found anywhere.

“That’s so strange. It’s not enough for Dojin to dare disobey my orders, he’s even wandering around the grounds without any permission?”

“I’ve been looking for him too, but I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Is it not possible for the other disciples to see it wrong?”

“Several people have already said that they saw him.”

“Where was the last time you saw Dojin?”

“Near the Bright Moon Palace.”

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

The two left Yakseondang and went to the nearby Bright Moon Palace.

Cheong-il grabbed the man who was guarding the Bright Moon Palace and asked.

“Have you ever seen Dojin?”

“I saw him roaming around.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Why?”

Instead of answering, Cheong-il frowned.

Something didn’t feel right.

It’s strange that Dojin, who had to go around the mountain and collect herbs, came back without a word, then was seen wandering around Bright Moon Palace.

Something weird was happening.

Suddenly, the eyes of Cheong-il turned to the Bright Moon Palace.

“Is Woo Gunsang inside?”

“Yes. He’s in training in isolation.”

“Send him a message that I will visit him.”

“That is…….”

As the disciple, Lee Dae-jae, hesitated, Cheong-il’s face distorted.

“Has he taken a woman in again?”

“I apologize.”

The disciple Lee Dae-jae quickly bowed his head. He could not dare tell a lie to Chung-il.

“I’m going inside.”

Cheong-il pushed the disciple and entered the Bright Moon Palace.Lee Dae-jae who was guarding the residence did not dare to stop him.

“Ugh! How do you do it?”

He hurriedly followed Qing-il, expecting a lightning bolt to fall soon.

After looking around the inside of Bright Moon Palace for a while, Cheong-il found the entrance to the underground basement.

Grung!

When the lock was activated, the entrance opened with a dull sound.

Cheong-il, Jin-gwang, and Lee Dae-jae went down to the underground basement through the entrance.

The corpse of Woo Gunsang greeted them.

“What? Woo Gunsang…!”

Chung-il ran towards Woo Gunsang and looked at his condition. However, Woo Gunsang had already stopped breathing.

“Who dares—!”

The roar of Cheong-il echoed through the underground basement.

Jin-gwang, who understood the situation, ran to the upper rooms and shouted.

“It’s an assassin! An assassin has killed the senior brother Woo Gunsang!”

Editor’s Notes

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!