Reaper of the Drifting Moon

“You–!”

The Blood-eyed Demon’s eyes widened.

He possessed a keen sense of perception that was well-recognized within the Hundred Wraith Union.

With senses that are far more developed than others, he could detect the movements of his assassination targets and predict their actions, thus successfully executing his mission.

He boasted that he could detect every movement within a ten-li radius. However, until Tang Cheolsan spoke, he had completely failed to notice that Pyo-wol was standing behind him.

Shivers ran down his spine.

If Pyo-wol had any intention of killing him, then he would already be dead. He never once imagined that the day would come when someone would manage to sneak behind him like this.

That’s why it felt even more shocking.

Pyo-wol silently stared at the Blood-eyed Demon.

The Blood-eyed Demon felt overwhelming pressure as he met Pyo-wol’s gaze.

“Who are you?”

“You’ve been talking about killing me all this time.”

“Pyo-wol?”

“That’s right.”

“How did you get here? Were you waiting all this time, knowing I would come?”

The Blood-eyed Demon shouted, drawing his sword.

Although the Blood-eyed Demon had the wrong idea about the current situation, Pyo-wol didn’t feel the need to correct him.

He had come here to meet Tang Cheolsan, not to kill the Blood-eyed Demon.

Pyo-wol was not a god, so there was no way he could have known in advance that the Blood-eyed Demon would come here.

It was simply a coincidence.

Tang Cheolsan became serious and shouted,

“K-Kill him! I’ll give you 100,000 gold coins, so hurry up–!”

Tang Cheolsan’s fear had reached its peak.

Just by seeing Pyo-wol in person, Tang Cheolsan could tell that he was the man responsible for killing Baekrok. Pyo-wol’s arrival here also meant that he was connected to Tang Sochu.

‘Tang Sochu must have sent him here to kill me.’

Tang Cheolsan was under the wrong impression. It was because he couldn’t make rational judgments at the moment.

Although he had threatened others many times, he had never personally been exposed to danger.

The Blood-eyed Demon shouted,

“This is convenient for me as well! You’ve saved me from the trouble of finding you!”

In an instant, the Blood-eyed Demon disappeared.

He had leaped towards the ceiling, using a stealth technique.

The art of concealment was one of the Blood-eyed Demon’s specialties.

As long as he deliberately hide his presence, no one would be able to detect him.

The Blood-eyed Demon hid somewhere in the shadows and waited for Pyo-wol to reveal a weakness.

The technique he mastered was called the Bloody Arrow Strike Sword Technique.1

It’s a sword technique that uniquely incorporates the essence of archery. It involved condensing internal energy, similar to shooting an arrow, to deliver a lethal blow.

The muscles of the lurking Blood-eyed Demon bulged significantly.

It was the effect of using the Bloody Arrow Strike Sword Technique.

‘Just a single blow and he’ll die.’

The Blood-eyed Demon stopped even his breathing as he looked at Pyo-wol closely.

Considerable time had passed, yet Pyo-wol remained in the same posture as when he first appeared. There were no signs of him moving.

Normally, when a person disappears before their eyes, they instinctively looked around, flustered and restless, as they try to trace the missing person’s whereabouts.

But, Pyo-wol just stood there motionless, like a stone statue.

Pyo-wol’s unwavering appearance reminded the Blood-eyed Demon of a solid wall.

A wall with no gaps whatsoever.

However, it’s impossible for an impenetrable wall to exist.

There must be a gap, and it’s just a matter of finding it.

That’s what the Blood-eyed Demon believed.

‘All I need is a single strike to win.’

The already crimson eyes of the Blood-eyed Demon glowed even redder.

It was then.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, Pyo-wol’s pupils moved without a sound.

In that instant, the Blood-eyed Demon felt goosebumps crawl all over his body.

It was because Pyo-wol’s eyes were precisely directed toward the place where he had concealed himself.

‘He knows where I’m hiding? No way!’

The Blood-eyed Demon tried to deny the thought, however, Pyo-wol’s gaze still remained fixed on the spot where he had concealed himself.

‘Damn it!’

The Blood-eyed Demon had no choice but to acknowledge it.

He couldn’t fathom how Pyo-wol knew, but the fact remained that Pyo-wol accurately pinpointed his hiding place.

He had no other choice now but to attack him.

Thud!

But at that moment, a fiery pain shot through his leg.

‘What?’

Before the Blood-eyed Demon could make sense of what had happened, his body was abruptly pulled.

Pyo-wol had pierced the Blood-eyed Demon’s calf with a Soul-Reaping Thread and then dragged him closer.

Thud!

As soon as the Blood-eyed Demon landed on the ground, he swiftly unleashed his Bloody Arrow Strike Sword Technique.

Swish!

His blade flew towards Pyo-wol faster than an arrow.

In an instant, the Blood-eyed Demon’s sword pierced through Pyo-wol’s head.

However, the Blood-eyed Demon couldn’t smile in victory or relief.

It was because Pyo-wol, who should have a sword impaled through his head, was gradually fading away.

‘An afterimage… Could it be Body Substitution?’

The Blood-eyed Demon couldn’t continue his train of thought.

Thunk!

Another dagger pierced him, but this time on the throat.

“Keuh!”

The Blood-eyed Demon’s eyes widened.

He didn’t need to see to know who had stuck a dagger into his throat.

He knew it was none other than Pyo-wol.

Pyo-wol then suddenly emerged from behind him.

“Geurgh!”

With Pyo-wol’s phantom dagger still lodged in him, the Blood-eyed Demon trembled violently.

Until his dying breath, the only thing on Blood-eyed Demon’s mind was his curiosity about the technique Pyo-wol had unleashed in the end.

The skill Pyo-wol used was not Body Substitution, but rather, his recently created technique Demon Shadow Exchange.

But the Blood-eyed Demon would never get the chance to know the answer to his question forever.

Pyo-wol pulled his phantom dagger, causing the Blood-eyed Demon to collapse helplessly.

“Ugh–!”

Upon witnessing that sight, Tang Cheolsan let out a groan as if he was in pain.

His face and eyes were filled with great horror.

Except for the absolute masters in Jianghu such as the Eight Constellations, as an assassin ranked fifteenth in the Hundred Wraith Union, Tang Cheolsan assumed that there should be no other warrior they would fail in assassinating.

That was why he truly did not expect such an assassin would lose his life in such a futile manner.

What’s more, Pyo-wol hadn’t even used his specialty, which was stealth. He simply located where the Blood-eyed Demon was hiding, and killed him with a dagger.

It was a feat that Tang Cheolsan couldn’t even imagine.

“Wait!”

As Pyo-wol approached, Tang Cheolsan raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. Of course, there was no reason for Pyo-wol to stop because of that.

“L-Let’s resolve this through conversation. Let’s talk–!”

“……”

“If you’re doing this because of Tang Sochu, I will cancel the request! I won’t bother you anymore, so please! Let’s resolve this peacefully by talking it out!”

“……”

“How much do you want? Ten… no, hundred thousand gold? No, I’ll even give you half of my fortune! So please, just spare my life.”

Thud!

Pyo-wol was finally within reach of Tang Cheolsan.

Tang Cheolsan fell to his knees and pleaded.

“If I die, the families working for my manor and workshop will be thrown out onto the streets. Please show mercy! Even if it’s for their sake!”

“Why should I show mercy?”

“Well, pe-people can make mistakes, right? I was blinded by greed and made a mistake, so please, forgive me this one time.”

“A mistake…”

“I will never make such a mistake again. If you want me to be a dog, I’ll be a dog! Or if you want me to be a pig, I’ll be a pig. So please, spare my life!”

Tang Cheolsan’s attitude was uncharacteristic of a powerful and influential man in Lake Tai.

It seemed as if he had no sense of pride as the master of Cheolsan manor.

Pyo-wol had encountered countless individuals, but he had never seen someone change their face as quickly as Tang Cheolsan.

However, Pyo-wol had no intention of forgiving Tang Cheolsan.

He knew that if he allowed someone who could change faces so easily like Tang Cheolsan to live, there would be no end to the aftermath.

And Pyo-wol wasn’t the type of person to leave such a variable behind.

Regardless of who it was, once they pointed a sword against him, he would relentlessly hunt them down and eliminate them, or thoroughly cripple them to the point of no return. Just like what happened with Eum Yujeong.

Just when Pyo-wol was about to kill Tang Cheolsan,

“AHH!”

“Eeek!”

“It’s poison!”

Suddenly, screams could be heard from outside.

‘Poison?’

Pyo-wol opened a nearby window and looked outside.

People were screaming and going into a frenzy.

Some were already bleeding and dying on the spot.

“What’s going on?!”

Tang Cheolsan stood up and looked out the window.

He couldn’t hide his despair at the sight of his subordinates dying.

“How could this happen?”

It was obvious to anyone that they were showing symptoms of poisoning.

Tang Cheolsan, forgetting his fear, shouted at Pyo-wol.

“This is your doing! You’re trying to bring down our manor by using poison! You despicable bastard! Curse you! Even in death, you won’t find peace!”

Thunk!

At that moment, a phantom dagger struck his forehead.

Tang Cheolsan couldn’t even scream as he died.

That was how Tang Cheolsan’s final moment went.

Pyo-wol left Tang Cheolsan’s dead body and stepped outside.

Although their master was dead, the people working for Cheolsan manor didn’t even realize it. They were too focused on saving their own lives.

Pyo-wol glanced around for a moment before heading in a certain direction.

It was a well near Tang Cheolsan’s residence.

The poison that had affected the people was coming from the well.

The poison was truly deadly.

It was so potent that even Pyo-wol, who was usually unfazed by most poisons, felt pain in his lungs.

Pyo-wol peered into the well.

The well was bubbling and spewing out poison gas.

It was clear that someone had put something inside the well to generate the poisonous smoke.

Bang!

With a single strike, Pyo-wol destroyed the well.

Only after the well completely collapsed did the poisonous smoke stop spreading in the air. But even then, many people had already fallen victim to the poison.

Dozens of people were suffering and dying from the poison.

Their faces as they writhed on the ground in agony, while vomiting blood, were genuinely horrifying.

Even in death, they wore the most agonizing expressions a human being could wear.

It was then.

“The young master has been kidnapped!”

Someone’s urgent voice echoed in the area.

Pyo-wol quickly made his way towards the direction where the voice came from.

It led him straight to Tang Ik-gi’s residence.

With their mouths covered with towels, the people of Cheolsan manor chattered,

“It’s him! The one who kidnapped the young master is that apprentice from the workshop!”

“That insane bastard–!”

“Quick! Track him down!”

Without even knowing that their master, Tang Cheolsan, had been killed, the people of Cheolsan manor began their pursuit of the one who had kidnapped Tang Ik-gi.

‘Apprentice?’

The image of a young boy flashed in Pyo-wol’s mind.

* * *

“Ugh!”

Tang Ik-gi tried to squirm, but he couldn’t even move an inch due to the lack of strength in his limbs.

His whole body ached as if he had been beaten with a sledgehammer. But what terrified him the most was the fact that he couldn’t even scream.

Tang Ik-gi returned late to the Cheolsan manor last night.

Exhausted and on the verge of collapsing, he fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up, the situation outside was in a state of extreme chaos and noise.

Just as he was about to look outside to see what was happening, something struck his body, and things took a turn for the worse.

Thunk! Thunk!

The cart he was on rattled and jolted.

It was a cart used to transport waste from Cheolsan manor. It was a filthy cart that he would never get close to under normal circumstances.

Tang Ik-gi struggled to lift his head to see the person driving the cart.

It was a boy of small stature, continuously whipping the horses that were pulling the cart.

‘Who are you?!’

Tang Ik-gi shouted, but his voice wouldn’t come out.

His vocal cords were paralyzed.

He was being transported around like a piece of luggage, yet the paralysis still wouldn’t subside.

The cart, which had been going at a frightening speed, suddenly came to a stop near Lake Tai’s reed field. The person driving the cart had stopped whipping the horses, and turned around.

Tang Ik-gi could finally see the face of the person who had kidnapped him.

‘Y-You–!’

The person holding the whip bent down and looked into Tang Ik-gi’s eyes.

The boy was none other than Do Yeonsan, an apprentice working at Cheolsan’s Workshop.

‘You little–! Why don’t you untie me already?’

Tang Ik-gi’s eyes widened.

At Tang Ik-gi’s reaction, Do Yeonsan smiled broadly.

“You’re still alive. Thank goodness.”

SoundlessWind21’s notes:

Thank you for reading!

Bloody Arrow Strike Sword Technique. Raws: 탄시혈검(彈矢血劍). 彈 crossball / bullet / shot / shell / ball 矢 arrow / dart / straight / to vow / to swear 血 xuè – blood

劍 jiàn – double-edged sword