Reaper of the Drifting Moon

The bodies of both Heo Ranju and Hong Ye-seol were stained with blood.

That was how fierce their duel was.

As a mercenary who uses a whip, Heo Ranju tried to maintain a distance away from her opponent, while in contrast, Hong Ye-seol tried to narrow the gap between them.

Bang!

Bang!

Heo Ranju’s whip and Hong Ye-seol’s white hands collided again and again in the air.

Each time their attacks met, sparks flew out, sending a wake in all directions.

Despite the direct collision with Heo Ranju’s whip, Hong Ye-seol’s hand didn’t get a single scratch, it only became slightly reddened.

This was the power of Extreme Yin Hand.

But that did not mean she did not feel the impact at all.

The constant whip attacks caused shock to accumulate on her body. Each attack caused her insides to be shaken, but she just clenched her teeth and endured the pain.

Heo Ranju also had her fair share of challenges, but the road that Hong Ye-seol had walked was definitely a more thorny one.

For a woman to become an assassin was like challenging the impossible.

Nevertheless, the reason Hong Ye-seol was able to walk the path of an assassin and become one of the top ten members in the Hundred Wraith Union was because she had no other choice.

But if she had a chance to choose, she would never have walked the path of an assassin.

It was such a harsh path that she even had to give up being a woman.

To be a perfect assassin meant being reborn to be some kind of weapon.

This inevitably causes the person to lose a portion, if not all, of their humanity, by killing off their emotions.

Just as much as she lives by continuously taking the lives of others, she must also be prepared to lose her own.

But Hong Ye-seol was not afraid of death.

It was because she felt that sometimes, being alive felt even more painful than dying.

Pow!

She suddenly received a blow on her shoulder.

The area that had been hit by the whip had bursted open.

An ordinary person would have fainted from the pain at that moment, but Hong Ye-seol merely frowned, enduring the pain and then moving on.

Heo Ranju’s eyes narrowed.

She could not believe Hong Ye-seol, who was an assassin, managed to hold her ground against her for so long.

“Back off!”

Heo Ranju shouted loudly, imbuing more qi to her whip.

Ping!

The whip injected with qi stood up like a viper and aimed for Hong Ye-seol’s head. Hong Ye-seol just slightly tilted her head slightly to the side to avoid the whip.

The whip grazed her forehead, tearing her flesh open and splattering blood everywhere. Still, Hong Ye-seol did not blink an eye.

Although her forehead had been scraped, it caused Heo Ranju’s chest to be wide open.

At this, Hong Ye-seol endured all the pain and pushed forward like a chariot. She finally got the opportunity she had been waiting for so long, so she could not afford to blow it off because of the pain.

Hong Ye-seol curled her fingers.

In an instant, terrifying yin energy began to condensed in her hand.

Extreme Yin Soul Strike.1

Kwah!

The full force of the Extreme Yin Hand slammed into Heo Ranju’s chest.

But Heo Ranju did not just take it lying down.

Just before the Extreme Soul Strike hit her, she defended her chest by covering it with her left hand.

Quang!

Hong Ye-seol’s Extreme Yin Soul Strike smashed into Heo Ranju’s left hand.

In an instant, Heo Ranju’s face turned white, drained of blood.

Thud!

The fingers of her left hand, which she used to block Hong Ye-seol’s attack, got broken.

After incapacitating Heo Ranju’s hand, Hong Ye-seol immediately unleashed the Extreme Yin Soul Strike again to directly hit Heo Ranju in the chest.

Quaang!

With the sound like a wall bomb exploding, Heo Ranju’s body was sent flying backwards.

She only stopped flying backwards after hitting a large boulder.

Her appearance looked so horrifying and pitiful.

Her chest caved in, and all of her bones looked to be broken. Furthermore, the broken bones stabbed her in the lungs, making it painful to breathe.

“Ha…! ha…!”

Heo Ranju continued to lean against the rock and breathe heavily.

At that moment, someone flopped down beside her.

“You stupid bitch! You can’t just jump in like that without hesitation…”

The one who stayed beside her and berated her nonstop was Daoshi Goh.

A trickle of blood was flowing from his heart.

It was the spot where the Soul-Reaping Thread had passed through. The wound was so small that it could not be seen with the naked eye, but nonetheless, it clearly punctured his heart.

With every beat of his heart, more blood leaked out.

The shadow of death was cast over his face.

Daoshi Goh knew that he was unlikely to survive after this.

Heo Ranju looked up and then leaned her head on Daoshi Goh’s shoulder. She then said,

“I’m sorry for going on a rampage by myself like a crazy bitch…”

“Damn it! I’ve been having a bad feeling since this morning…”

“The moment I saw him with another bitch, my eyes turned upside down without realizing it. I just couldn’t think of anything else.”

“That’s always been your problem ever since. You lose your mind whenever you see a good looking guy.”

“Usually handsome men.”

“Hmpf, that’s true.”

Daoshi Goh chuckled.

Blood poured out every time he laughed.

Daoshi Goh looked at Pyo-wol as he walked towards them and muttered,

“He’s so damn strong. The captain… will have a hard time.”

“I should have killed him with my own hands, so he would not have paid another bitch any attention…”

“I told you to control your temper.”

“What’s the point of being a mercenary then? Only when I live my life the way I want… would I have no regrets.”

“You are still bluffing until the end…”

“…….”

“Are you asleep?”

“…….”

Heo Ranju did not answer.

Daoshi Goh clearly knew what that meant.

“F…uck!”

His breathing gradually slowed down and then stopped.

Pyo-wol looked at the dead bodies of Daoshi Goh and Heo Ranju in silence.

Hong Ye-seol, who had blood all over her body, came to his side.

She asked,

“So you knew them. Do you regret killing them?”

“This isn’t the first time.”

“I see. Then why do you look so sad?”

“You’re seeing things.”

“Am I?”

Hong Ye-seol wrinkled her nose for a moment, but her eyes soon rolled up. She had passed out.

The poisonous smoke that had been briefly suppressed by the antidote had spread throughout her body.

* * *

Bo-kyeong strolled through the Jin family manor.

It was late at night, but he couldn’t sleep.

He had only been here for a few days, but so many events had already happened. The biggest one so far was the fight between Seongam and Namgung Wol.

Besides leaving both of them deeply wounded, their fight also left a huge mark on the prestige of the Shaolin Temple.

Seongam’s outburst made the people look at the Shaolin Temple in a bad light.

It has already been a long time since the Shaolin Temple has been looked down upon by people like this. At least, not since Bo-kyeong had entered the Shaolin Temple.

Bo-kyeong found the people’s stares both unfamiliar and difficult.

It was the same with the other monks who came with him.

Rather than bringing out the harmony between the Jin family and the Snow Sword Manor, it seemed as if they made things even worse, so they found it difficult to endure the people’s gaze.

“Amitabha! Amitabha!”

Bo-kyeong tried to calm his mind by rolling his prayer beads. But his mind did not calm down easily.

Bo-kyeong continued to walk aimlessly. After walking for a long time, he came to a deserted place.

Suddenly, Bo-kyeong’s eyes narrowed.

He could see something moving in the dark.

At first, he thought it was a stray cat. But it was too big to be considered a stray cat.

It was definitely a person.

‘What?’

It was already nighttime.

Most of the warriors had gone to bed. Only those who had to stand guard should be out and running at this time.

With how the security in the manor had been heightened many times over because of the recent assassinations, people also refrained from moving at night.

There was only one possible reason for a person to move stealthily like this at a time like this.

‘An assassin!’

Bo-kyeong’s face stiffened.

He thought about alerting Monk Un-hae, but that would mean losing sight of the assassin.

So he decided to subdue the assassin with his own hands.

He thought that if he could subdue the assassins, then he could end up restoring the Shaolin Temple’s tarnished reputation. This was a blessing in disguise.

He also wanted to personally avenge the death of Seong-un, who lost his life to an assassin. This kind of mindset would normally not have been considered by a disciple of Buddha, but in the end, he was also human.

Furthermore, he felt greatly responsible for Seong-un’s death.

He had not slept well, not for a single day, ever since Seong-un’s death.

“Amitabha! I’m sure Buddha will forgive me for staining my hands with blood.”

Bo-kyeong chased the assassin into the darkness.

He hid his presence as best as he could.

Although he had never learned stealth professionally, with his mastery of Shaolin martial arts, he did not find it difficult to conceal himself.

The assassin was travelling along the roof.

Bo-kyeong also climbed and ran through the roof, his robes fluttering.

At times like this, the wide-armed robe felt quite cumbersome.

Bo-kyeong pulled the hem of his rob as tight as he could to keep it from brushing against the tiles.

“Hoo!”

He let out a sigh without realizing it, but then shut his mouth in surprise.

Fortunately, the assassin didn’t seem to hear his sighs. There was a distance of about twenty meters between them.

Unless the assassin was a master, it would have been impossible for anyone to hear such a quiet sound from that distance.

He did not think that the man he was chasing was a master of that calibre. It did not make sense for such a master to do such a thing.

Suddenly, Bo-kyeong looked around.

Even though he had stayed in the Jin manor for quite a while, he had never seen a place like this before.

The place where the assassin was headed was on the hillside leading from the manor to the mountains. There was not a building in sight.

‘Why is he going here?’

Bo-kyeong frowned and looked around.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out why the assassins had come here.

‘Could it be—?’

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

He hurriedly looked around for the assassin. But there was no sign of the assassin anywhere.

Cold sweat ran down his back.

‘Did he know I was on his trail so he lured me here?’

The tables had turned.

He moved fast, and raised his qi in preparation of the assassin’s attack. But no matter how much time passed, his opponent showed no signs of moving.

Bo-kyeong felt his body stiffen from the tension.

It has already been half an hour since he stood here in the dark and prepared for the assassin’s ambush.

Half an hour seemed like a day to him.

At this point, he was beginning to wonder if the assassin was really hiding and targeting him.

Bo-kyeong frowned.

‘Did I get it wrong?’

Maybe the assassin had gotten past him and gone somewhere else.

That would be much more convincing, he thought.

Turning the Shaolin Temple into an enemy would be too much for the assassin to bear.

Thinking about it, his heart felt lighter.

When Bo-kyeong was finally relieved,

Something suddenly tapped his calf.

Bo-kyeong looked at his leg with a puzzled expression, and saw a crude doll made of pieced-together fabric.

“What?”

Boom!

At that moment, the doll exploded.

The explosion wasn’t that great.

The problem was that there were fine needles hidden inside the doll, and it had scattered in all directions.

Bo-kyeong covered his face and chest with the sleeves of his robe. However, the fine needles still ended up piercing through his robe, stabbing him in different parts of his body.

“Keugh!”

He staggered backwards in disbelief.

Boom!

A beam of sword light cut through the darkness.

Bo-kyeong instinctively unleashed a great force field to protect his entire body.

Boom!

An explosion erupted.

A long gash appeared on Bo-kyeong’s side. But his attacker did not also remain unscathed. A light trace of blood was visible at the corner of the assassin’s mouth, probably suffering from the impact of the force field. Nonetheless, his wound paled in comparison to those of Bo-kyeong.

Bo-kyeong looked at the assassin while clutching his side.

The skeletal, thin-faced assassin was none other than Heuk-ho.

“I was wondering who was following me like a rat. It turns out it’s a member of the Shaolin Temple.”

Heuk-ho looked at Bo-kyeong with a cold gaze.

If he hadn’t heard Bo-kyeong sighed, he would not have noticed that he was being followed. Fortunately, he had a very sharp hearing. So he was able to hear Bo-kyeong’s feeble sigh.

Bo-kyeong asked,

“Who are you?”

“As you can see, I’m an assassin.”

“Were you the one who committed murder in the Jin family?”

“Hehe! That’s right. I was the one who killed your Senior Brother, too.”

“Are you saying you killed Senior Brother Seong-un?”

“That’s right! It wasn’t that difficult.”

In that moment, something snapped inside of Bo-kyeong’s mind.

SoundlessWind21’s Notes:

It’s been mentioned a couple of times how the Shaolin Temple is treated in high regard or how they’re great and strong especially with their long tradition… but at this rate, I’m finding it hard to believe. I’m sure all of the monks will be killed off one by one at this rate T–T.

Extreme Yin Soul Slash. Raws: 태음절혼참(太陰絶魂斬). 太 tài – very, too, much; big; extreme 陰 yīn, yìn, ān – ‘female’ principle; dark; secret 絶 jué – cut 魂 hún – soul, spirit 斬 zhǎn – cut, chop, sever; behead