Reaper of the Drifting Moon

They’re so high up that everyone has no choice but to look up to them. Each of them possesses incredible individual power and strength. They have lived by their own power alone and had no other person or organization supporting them behind their back.

Even after ascending to that high position, they ran across Jianghu with their pure individual force alone rather than creating their own clan or organization.

Whenever they showed their presence in Jianghu, regardless of the time and place, they would get the attention and admiration of everyone.

That is the Eight Constellations.

That is why Seong,1 which means star, is added to their names.

Stars shine by themselves, making them an object of longing. And at the bottom of the Eight Constellations, was Wolf King.

The king of wolves, the one who sits on the throne.

The legendary warrior who became a star in the sky as a mercenary.

King Gujin.

King Gujin’s first appearance in Jianghu was at the end of the War of the Bloody Heaven. The young warrior took part in the great war with only one sword and then won one after another.

He suffered several fatal wounds that people would not find it strange if he died, but he ended up persistently surviving and killing all of his enemies.

As the young warrior went through fierce battles and became stronger, he naturally became a person who is admired by everyone. And as if proving the fact that he survived hundreds of fierce battles, King Gujin’s body had countless scars.

Many wounds are engraved all over his body.

King Gujin’s eyes, which were looking straight at Soma, were so fierce that even Soma felt afraid.

“Hng!”

Meeting his ferocious eyes head on, Soma unconsciously gnashed his teeth.

Soma thought that he had lost his ability to feel fear, but he couldn’t help but shrink in front of King Gujin’s eyes.

The number of years they had lived was different, and the level of the battlefield they had fought through was different.

No matter how much Soma tries, he couldn’t help but be intimidated by someone like King Gujin.

Soma hugged his sword even tighter.

Seeing this, King Gujin smiled, showing his white teeth.

“If anyone sees us, they’ll think I’m trying to take your sword away by force. I’m just going to take a look. I’ve never seen such a sword in my entire life.”

He reached out his hand towards Soma.

Although he simply held out his hand, Soma felt tremendous pressure.

It was as if a giant wolf was glaring at him with his teeth bared.

Under the overwhelming pressure, Soma swung his sword without realizing it.

“No!”

Kaang!

However, the sword he swung vigorously only bounced off of King Gujin’s arm.

King Gujin trained his body to the limit.

His body was no different from a weapon in itself. His body, which was covered in scars, was as hard as steel. He could easily deflect sword attacks that carry no strength.

There was not a scratch on his forearm.

King Gujin grinned as he stretched out his arms.

“You attacked me first.”

“That’s—”

“You attacked me with murderous intent. Even if I fight back, no one will be able to say anything against me..”

The corners of his mouth might be smiling, but his eyes were terrifying.

It was only then that Soma realized that he had been provoked by King Gujin.

While traveling with Pyo-wol, he too had his eyes opened to the world. One of the things he learned is that strong people value justification.

Even if the same actions were performed, the results differed greatly depending on the presence or absence of a justification.

If a warrior like King Gujin coveted the sword of a kid and forcibly took it away, he would be greatly criticized by Jianghu. It would be a different story though if the kid attacked him first. Getting the sword from the kid would no longer be a big deal.

King Gujin forced Soma to attack first by pressuring him, thereby gaining a justification.

“Hiiik!”

As soon as he realized that, Soma threw himself backwards.

He wanted to escape immediately.

There was nothing more foolish than fighting against an opponent he couldn’t beat.

He doesn’t know why King Gujin wanted the sword Gongbu, but he had to run away from him first.

“Heh!”

At that moment, the corner of King Gujin’s mouth twisted upward.

He was obviously sneering at him.

He made a gesture of closing his fingers in the same way he stretched out his hand. Then, a powerful suction force was generated, pulling Soma’s body towards him.

It was the art of telekinesis.2

“Hyuk!”

A suppressed moan escaped Soma’s mouth.

An invisible powerful force squeezed and dragged him to King Gujin. It was clear that if he was dragged away like this, not only would his sword be taken away, but also his life.

“Do you think I’ll easily be beaten?”

Soma swung his arms wide as if he was shaking off his fear. Then, the seven rings on his neck flew toward King Gujin.

Gi-ying!

The seven wheels rotated fiercely, aiming for King Gujin.

In an instant, King Gujin burst out laughing.

“Hahaaha! The kid is good at doing tricks!”

Just before the wheels were about to pierce him, King Gujin raised his qi to protect his whole body.

Kakakakang!

The wheels bounced off the King Gujin’s body helplessly without leaving a scratch on him.

King Gujin clearly showed how far the human body can be trained.

Until now, Soma had killed numerous enemies using his wheels. This was the first time he had been incapacitated without being able to even inflict wounds against his opponent.

A dark shadow fell over Soma’s face as he retrieved the seven wheel rings that had bounced off.

It was the first time for him to feel so gloomy again after leaving the Xiaoleiyin Temple.

He felt like he was looking at a huge wall.

He couldn’t see any gaps which he could use to break through.

“YAAAAH!”

Soma let out a scream and launched his wheels in succession. However, with just King Gujin’s light gesture, the wheels lost its strength and bounced off.

“Damn it!”

Soma gritted his teeth and retrieved the wheels. He then threw it again.

But the result was the same.

It was at that moment that a light of contempt appeared on King Gujin’s face.

“Why don’t you use that sword? Why do you throw those iron wheels when you have such a good sword?”

“Uh, that’s–”

“This just means that you are not qualified to use that sword. How can a person who is unable to utilize the weapon’s skill claim to be its owner? A great sword such as that one originally shines at the hands of the rightful owner. You don’t deserve to be the master of that sword.”

Soma couldn’t make any excuses.

After obtaining Gongbu, he might have steadily practiced and trained with it, but it was also true that he was not familiar with the sword because he did not systematically learn how to properly wield it.

So, when a decisive moment or a situation comes when he has to draw out one hundred percent of his ability, he relies on the wheels.

It was the same even now.

He might have used his sword against Cho Yeong-sin or the White Tiger Sword Corps, but once he faced King Gujin, who was an unprecedentedly strong warrior, instead of using the sword, he ended up using the wheels.

His actions made King Gujin angry.

King Gujin actually didn’t know that Gongbu was a legendary sword. He just noticed that it had great strength and durability.

A sword of that caliber was not very common in the current Jianghu.

The biggest inconvenience he feels while working as a mercenary is that it is not easy to find a proper weapon.

His martial arts were very destructive.

In terms of destructive power, there were not many people in the world who possessed martial arts comparable to him.

The problem is that his power is too destructive.

Because of his excessive destructive power, even weapons could not withstand most of his attacks. Once he used it a few times, it would immediately break.

Because of that, he always carried six swords with him.

He can only be relieved by carrying an extra sword. Even now, several swords clumsily hung on his back.

“A pearl necklace hanging around a pig’s neck. How sad is this?”

King Gujin was furious at Soma for not using his sword properly.

Sreung!

He pulled out a sword from his back.

It was a specially ordered sword made by a renowned artisan.

“I’ll show you how to truly use a sword.”

King Gujin raised his sword high.

He had poor posture. His entire body looked like it had numerous loopholes.

But even then, Soma could not attack King Gujin.

It was because he had a strong premonition that if he attacked King Gujin now, his whole body would be torn to pieces.

He couldn’t even try to escape.

It was clear that if he tries, he would only be dragged back by the art of telekinesis.

A grim expression appeared on Soma’s face.

There was such a huge gap between him and his opponent that he didn’t know what to do.

All he could do was raise his sword and try to block his head.

King Gujin’s blow landed on Soma’s head.

Quaang!

Is this how it feels when lightning strikes from the sky?

Soma flew backwards, feeling the pain of the lightning going through his whole body.

The sword, Gongbu, bounced off and got stuck on the ground.

Even though Soma had parried such a powerful blow, Gongbu didn’t break.

A light of joy flashed in King Gujin’s eyes.

It was a blow from Heavenly Flash of Lightning.3

It was literally a sword technique with the power of lightning falling from the sky.

Until now, there was no opponent that was not killed once he used the Heavenly Flash of Lightning.

The downside is that his weapon couldn’t stand it because his attack contained too much power.

Just like right now.

Hududuk!

The sword in his hand broke into pieces.

King Gujin looked at the sword on his hand with only the hilt left. He then quickly threw it away without hesitation.

“I don’t have any use for this crap anymore. I finally found a strong one.”

He picked up Gongbu which was stuck on the ground.

He wrapped his hand on the hilt of the sword.

King Gujin trembled at the familiar feeling, as if it was his from the beginning.

The moment he grabbed the hilt of the sword, he realized it was like fate.

If he used this sword, it would be able to endure any sword techniques he would unleash.

“Hahahah!”

King Gujin burst out into a boisterous laughter and threw away the five swords that were tied behind his back.

Since he finally got a great sword that perfectly fits his hand, he had no more need for such trash swords.

“That’s… my sword.”

Soma raised himself up and said.

King Gujin was quite surprised to see Soma, still alive despite being hit by the Heavenly Flash of Lightning.

No matter how much the sword blocked his Heavenly Flash of Lightning attack, it still shouldn’t be able dissipate the sword energy contained within it.

Even though the shock must have been accumulated in his body, the fact that Soma managed to endure it was proof of his strength and will.

“Yes! A man should have that level of grit! I acknowledge you as a man. So I will do my best to deal with you.”

Soma clenched his teeth.

There was no logic in his words. It was an absurd and unreasonable statement. However, Jianghu was a place where the words of the powerful were accepted as the law.

If he doesn’t want to feel aggrieved, then all he could do was to improve his martial arts and become even stronger.

Soma was strong, but King Gujin was even stronger. That’s why he can say such nonsense.

King Gujin took a sword stance.

The Heavenly Sword of the Bloody Wolf.4

It was his own sword technique that he created while living as a mercenary for decades.

Because of his great power, he didn’t have any proper weapons. This stopped him from deploying all of his strength.

For the first time in his life, King Gujin intended to unleash the Heavenly Blood Sword with all his might.

Soma is his target.

His goal was to completely annihilate him.

Even though he had justification for attacking Soma first, the act of taking away the sword from a young boy would make him suffer huge criticism from Jianghu since he was still Soma’s senior.

So the best option for him was to erase Soma from the world so that no one would know.

King Gujin injected his qi into the sword, Gongbu.

Burr!

He felt the blade of fear tremble. But there was no sense of instability at all.

Other swords would already have cracks in their blades with him channeling just this amount of qi, but Gongbu was able to accept his energy without difficulty.

“Hehe!”

King Gujin let out a laugh as he swung his new sword at Soma.

Quarreung!

A roar that was so different from when Soma was heard as King Gujin swung his sword.

A terrifying qi hit Soma with a sound like thunder.

“Keuk!”

Soma raised two of his wheels to block the front, bracing himself for the impact.

A look of despair flashed across his face.

He instinctively realized that he could not stop the incoming overwhelming power on his own.

Kuwaaaang!

There was a roar that was incomparable to anything before.

As if a giant wolf had scratched the earth with its claws, the ground was overturned. It exposed the soil underneath and the rocks buried in the ground protruded and scattered all over the place.

It was a gruesome sight that could not be seen as being made by human power.

It was impossible to survive an attack like this head-on.

Even if it’s Soma.

“Hehe!”

King Gujin had a satisfied smile on his face.

As expected, there was not a single crack in the sword, Gongbu.

Finally, he had obtained a sword that allowed him to fully unleash his sword techniques.

Soma’s life or death didn’t matter to him.

Even if he was lucky enough to preserve his life, it was clear that he would not be in a normal state.

“Hahahaha!”

When King Gujin was bursting out in happiness,

A faint thread flew silently on the wind.

SoundlessWind21’s Notes

Thank you for reading~ If there are any errors let me know!

Seong. Raws: 성(星). 星 xīng – a star, planet; any point of light Art of telekinesis. Raws: art of empty space, 허공섭물(虛空攝物). 虛 xū – false, worthless; empty, hollow 空 kōng – empty, hollow, bare, deserted 攝 shè – take in, absorb; act as deputy; administer, assist 物 wù – thing, substance, creature Heavenly Flash of Lightning. Raws: Tian Lei Island, 천뢰섬(天雷閃). 天 tiān – sky, heaven; god, celestial 雷 léi – thunder 閃 shǎn – flash; avoid, dodge, evade The Heavenly Sword of the Bloody Wolf. Raws: 천랑혈아검(天狼血牙剣). 天 tiān – sky, heaven; god, celestial 狼 láng – wolf 血 xuè – blood; radical number 143 牙 yá – tooth, molars, teeth; serrated 剣 jiàn – sword, dagger, saber